Liberty In Peril

formerly,

The Llano Ledger

Highly reminiscent
of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors,
Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black
who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they
please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.
It's appalling. Runs against the grain of everything our formerly
great country once stood for. No longer.

Delusionally believe the
jackbooted bastards in ICE aren't out of control? Criticism has been
ferocious. NPR reports:

"Immigration officials
have stopped, for now, the force-feeding via nasal tubes of nine immigrants
from India who were conducting a hunger strike inside an immigration detention
center in El Paso, Texas. In a statement from U.S. Immigration and Customs
Enforcement late Thursday night, "there are 12 individuals on a hunger
strike — nine citizens of India and three from Cuba — in the custody of
[ICE]." While ICE goes on to say that at least two of the nine men in detention
have been on a hunger strike since late December of last year, "No hunger
strikers housed in El Paso are currently being fed pursuant to court orders
at this time."

Goddamned jackbooted nazi
storm troopers. ... Right, Sheriff?

"Late last month, 11 immigrants
were refusing food in protest over the length and conditions of their detention.
Six were being force-fed. That number grew to nine, according to the El
Paso Times and the Texas Monthly. The case has drawn international attention."

"Last week, the United
Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights expressed its
concern that the force-feeding of hunger strikers could be a violation
of the U.N. Convention Against Torture. The American Medical Association
also opposes the practice."

No question. No
way is such treatment justified.

"The change in treatment
was first revealed in a closed-door court hearing Wednesday in El Paso
held to discuss the status of two detained immigrants, Malkeet Singh and
Jasvir Singh. A physician for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, Dr.
Michelle Iglesias, discussed the condition of the two immigrant detainees
before U.S. District Judge David Guaderrama. Federal privacy laws required
that testimony to remain private. The judge then held an open court hearing
in which Iglesias testified more generally about the force-feeding regimen
and the long-term damage the body sustains in the process of starving.
In that open hearing, an attorney for the detainees, Louis Lopez, asked
the judge for clarification about the proceedings and inadvertently let
slip out "now that the tubes are out." "Guaderrama quickly stopped him
and said, 'You're not supposed to say that. That's the closed portion,'
" the Texas Monthly reported."

The American public is
entitled to know when torture and abuse occur in our penal institutions.

"It is not immediately
clear whether Malkeet Singh and Jasvir Singh are related, as their surname
is a near-universal last name for Sikh males. They are reportedly seeking
asylum."

Instead, they're being
abused under the Trump nazi and his henchmen. ... Right, Sheriff?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-22-19

Highly reminiscent
of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors,
Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black
who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they
please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.
It's appalling. Runs against the grain of everything our formerly
great country once stood for. No longer.

Think law enforcement
has no association with right-wing extremists? CBS News reports:

"The commander for the
police rapid response team in Portland, Oregon, seems to have exchanged
friendly text messages with a leader of far-right protests that have rocked
the city. One city council member said the messages, which were first reported
by a newspaper, confirms collusion exists between some police and right-wing
extremists. "I am not shocked, and I am not surprised at today's reporting
of Lt. Jeff Niiya's collaboration with Patriot Prayer leader Joey Gibson
over text to provide aid and support for their hate marches," Councilwoman
Jo Ann Hardesty said in a statement. Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler called
the messages "disturbing" and said he directed Police Chief Danielle Outlaw
"to do a thorough investigation of this matter and report back to me expeditiously."

If true, an extremely
dangerous situation. Exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and
constitutional rights and liberties.

"Willamette Week obtained
text messages through a public records request between Niiya and Gibson.
The texts purportedly show Niiya had a friendly rapport with Gibson, frequently
discussing Gibson's plans to demonstrate. In one text reported by the newspaper,
Niiya tells Gibson that he doesn't see a need to arrest his assistant,
Tusitala Toese, who often brawls with antifascist protesters, even if he
has a warrant, unless Toese commits a new crime. "Just make sure he doesn't
do anything which may draw our attention," Niiya texted Gibson on Dec.
9, 2017, according to Willamette Week. "If he still has the warrant in
the system (I don't run you guys so I don't personally know) the officers
could arrest him. I don't see a need to arrest on the warrant unless there
is a reason."

The commander seems to
have abrogated his oath of office to protect and defend the United States
Constitution. ... Right, Sheriff?

"Late Thursday night,
the Portland Police Bureau posted all of the messages between Niiya and
Gibson online, CBS affiliate KOIN-TV reports. Wheeler said the messages
created "a mandate for specific training to identify and combat white supremacy."

Not good enough.
Nowhere near.

"It is imperative for
law enforcement to remain objective and professional, and in my opinion,
these text messages appear to cross several boundaries," the mayor said."

Unquestionably.
What do you plan to do about it, Mr. Mayor?

A police spokeswoman said
it is not unusual for officers to suggest people turn themselves in to
avoid being arrested on a warrant, Willamette Week reported. "In crowd
management situations, it may not be safe or prudent to arrest a person
right at that time, so the arrest may be delayed or followed up on later.
It is not uncommon for officers to provide guidance for someone to turn
themselves in on a warrant if the subject is not present," Lt. Tina Jones
said."

This appears to go far
beyond that, Lt. Jones. ... Right, Sheriff?

"Portland police were
accused at a protest last August of being heavy-handed against people,
injuring some, who were protesting a rally of extreme-right demonstrators
organized by Gibson. Hardesty said the "broken policing system in Portland"
must be addressed. "This story, like many that have come before it, simply
confirms what many in the community have already known - there are members
of the Portland police force who work in collusion with right-wing extremists,"
she said."

... Hear the rumble?
An unwanted dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looming.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-22-19

Highly reminiscent
of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors,
Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black
who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they
please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.
It's appalling. Runs against the grain of everything our formerly
great country once stood for. No longer.

More of the same old jackbooted
bigotry. NPR reports:

"Two women who were detained
and asked to show identification after speaking Spanish in a convenience
store in Montana are suing U.S. Customs and Border Protection, saying the
CBP agent violated their constitutional rights when he detained them and
asked to see their identification."

How is speaking a foreign
language probable cause of a crime? How?

"Ana Suda and Martha "Mimi"
Hernandez — American citizens who were born in Texas and California, respectively
— were questioned as they attempted to buy groceries in Havre, Mont., last
May. They captured video of the encounter, which began inside the Town
Pump gas station and convenience store. In all, they were detained for
some 40 minutes."

"In the footage, CBP Agent
Paul O'Neal is seen telling one of the women, "Ma'am, the reason I asked
you for your ID is because I came in here and I saw that you guys are speaking
Spanish, which is very unheard of up here."

Jesus Christ. How
is that probable cause of a crime? How?

"When it was posted last
spring, the video raised new questions about the Trump administration's
methods for carrying out a crackdown on people who have entered the U.S.
illegally from the Southern border. Suda and Hernandez say the agent had
no cause to detain them; they accuse the CBP of violating their rights
against unreasonable seizure and equal protection under the law."

Exactly right. Nazi
jackbooted justice. ... Right, Sheriff?

"Suda and Hernandez filed
suit with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union, along with its
chapter in Montana and a local law firm."

Way to go. Sue the
living shit out of the bastards. ... Right, Sheriff?

"The lawsuit asks a federal
district court to order the CBP not to stop or detain anyone "on the basis
of race, accent and/or speaking Spanish," unless those characteristics
are tied to a specific and reliable suspect description. They also want
the court to declare that someone's race or language isn't enough on its
own to create suspicion to justify a seizure or detention. The suit also
seeks unspecified compensation and punitive damages."

Way to go. This
shit has got to stop.

"The two friends have
lived in Havre for several years, working as certified nurse assistants
at a local medical center and raising their children, according to their
lawsuit. They say they had left work, gone to the gym and were waiting
to pay for their milk and eggs when Hernandez said hello to O'Neal in the
checkout line — and that he replied by saying she had a strong accent."

Jesus Christ. Unbelievable.
Adolf and Benito would have been proud of this piece of human excrement.
Must be 'high-fiving' on their fiery perches. ... Right, Sheriff?

"He then asked the pair
where they had been born — leading Suda to ask, "Are you serious?" "Dead
serious," O'Neal responded, according to the suit."

"Suda told the agent she
had been born in El Paso, Texas; Hernandez said she was born in El Centro,
Calif. But that didn't satisfy O'Neal, who "demanded that the two provide
him with identification and refused to let them pay for their groceries"
until they complied, the suit states."

Jackbooted nazi son of
a bitch, right, Sheriff? This piece of human excrement had
no probable cause. Pure harassment.

"O'Neal then took the
women outside by his CBP jeep. At that point, the women started using their
phones to film what was happening. As they did that, O'Neal radioed in
their names and dates of birth. When one of the women asked whether they
were being detained "because of our profiles," O'Neal replied, "No, it
has nothing to do with that. It's the fact that it has to do with you guys
speaking Spanish in the store, in a state where it's predominantly English-speaking,
OK?" The women say they were detained for a total of around 40 minutes
— spending much of it standing by the CBP car. "So it is illegal to speak
Spanish in Montana?" Suda asked O'Neal. "Well, ma'am it's not illegal,
it's just very unheard of up here," the agent said."

"The United States has
no official language," the suit states, adding, "Many United States citizens,
and many non-citizens who are in this country lawfully, are not fluent
in English." After O'Neal's supervisor arrived at the scene, Suda asked
whether they would have been detained if they had been speaking French
in the store. For reference, Havre is only about 20 miles from the U.S.-Canada
border. "No, we don't do that," the supervisor replied, according to the
court document."

"Suda and Hernandez's
lawsuit describes the experience as one of humiliation that has inflicted
emotional and psychological harm — and has stoked fears of speaking Spanish
in public. Alex Rate, one of the women's lawyers with the American Civil
Liberties Union of Montana, tells member station MTPR that the plaintiffs
have felt repercussions both from the incident and their decision to go
public."

Short of an unwanted dreaded
second American revolution catastrophically looming, the only way this
shit will end is to expose law enforcement for whom and what it is.
... Right, Sheriff?

"This is a small town
and so there have been confrontations around town amongst other people,"
Rate said, according to MTPR. "There have been issues at Ana and Mimi's
(Martha's) place of employment. So it's just fair to say that folks know
that this is out there, and they don't like the fact that Ana and Mimi
are standing up for their rights."

Our formerly great country
has lost itself. ... Right, Sheriff?

"The lawsuit also alleges
that Suda and Hernandez had narrowly missed being detained earlier in 2018,
when a CBP agent who saw them dancing one night took photos of them that
he shared with other agents, along with a message: "There are two Mexicans
at the bar."

Jesus Christ. Adolf
and Benito would have been proud. 'High-fiving' on their fiery perches.
Who
really won the Second World War?

"The incident might have
resulted in the pair being detained, the suit says, if another agent hadn't
replied that he recognized the women — and that they were friends with
his wife."

Founders? Spinning
in their graves. ... Right, Sheriff?

"Contrary to the CBP agent's
statement that Spanish isn't spoken often in Havre, the lawsuit states
that a local radio station broadcasts in the language and that despite
having a population of fewer than 10,000 people, the town is home to "a
strong and vibrant Latinx [Latino]
community."

No more than blatant bigotry.
Nazi
America.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-22-19

Highly reminiscent
of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors,
Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black
who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they
please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.
It's appalling. Runs against the grain of everything our formerly
great country once stood for. No longer.

Supplementing the above,
NPR reports:

"For months, photojournalist
Ariana Drehsler had been crossing the border between her home in San Diego
and the Mexican city of Tijuana without incident. Drehsler was photographing
asylum-seekers who had traveled to Tijuana, and she had never once been
questioned by border officials for longer than a minute while re-entering
the United States. But beginning in December, every time she crossed back
into the U.S. she was pulled into secondary for questioning. Agents asked
her about events taking place in Tijuana and the people working with asylum-seekers.
Two agents told Drehsler that they wanted her to answer questions for them
because she was "on the ground," while they weren't."

"They wanted to know who
I was working for and what I was seeing," Drehsler told NPR."

None of their goddamned
f--king business. No more than intimidation, infringement of First
Amendment rights of a supposedly free press. ... Right, Sheriff?

"They focused on the shelters,
and people crossing illegally."

These jackbooted bastards
expect you to do their job for them? F--k the bastards.

"During one of the stops,
Drehsler was separated from her camera. She doesn't know if CBP went through
it, but she was made uncomfortable by the position the agents were putting
her in."

Direct infringement of
First Amendment Freedom of the Press.

"That's not part of my
job, to keep getting stopped by these guys and doing their homework for
them," she said."

Goddamned right.
Need to sue. They're out of control. Granted carte blanche
by the Trump nazi and his equally treacherous, traitorous, treasonous henchmen.

This problem is widespread,
systemic, a growing cancer:

"Drehsler is just one
of dozens of journalists, volunteers and lawyers who have been interrogated
by CBP at the San Diego border over the past several weeks, part of a trend
that civil rights groups have deemed "alarming." Other journalists stopped
at the border have said that agents have shown them photo lineups of individuals,
asking them to help identify activists and other organizers the agents
described as "instigating" asylum-seekers."

Don't cooperate with these
jackbooted sons of bitches. These out of control storm troopers are
an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights
and liberties. Your news organizations need to sue the living shit
out of them and their government handlers. ... Right, Sheriff?

"Last November, the Committee
to Protect Journalists published an urgent report about increasing incidents
of CBP agents searching journalists' electronic devices and questioning
them about their reporting and their sources. The committee has been in
touch with several of the journalists who have been stopped and interrogated
by CBP."

Why is media tolerating
this horse shit, blatant infringement of the First Amendment? Sue.

"The ability for journalists
to protect their sources, the ability for them to protect information they
gather in the course of their reporting, the ability for them to be seen
as independent of law enforcement and not just another intelligence arm
of the government, is so central to what journalism is," said Alexandra
Ellerbeck, the organization's North America program coordinator."

Force them to get a court
order. Save nothing that can give up or compromise a source.
Highly encrypt all electronic devices. Called the First Amendment
Freedom of the Press.

"Kitra Cahana, an American-Canadian
photojournalist who has been covering the migration of refugees from Central
America, has repeatedly been denied entrance to Mexico in recent weeks.
Cahana had crossed back and forth across the border without incident before
she was turned back after flying to Mexico City from Detroit on Jan. 17."

Your employer needs to
sue. Why hasn't it?

"For me, this is a question
of freedom of the press and our ability as the press to cover important
stories like the migrant caravan," Cahana said. "And I, along with other
journalists, are effectively no longer able to cover the story of the migrant
caravan."

Again and ferociously
pointedly, why has your employer not had your back? Even if you're
self-employed, your clients need to stand up for you, sue the living shit
out of the nazi storm troopers and their government handlers. Forget?
Clients are lining their pockets off the risk you're willingly taking.
... Right, Sheriff?

"In addition to journalists,
volunteers working with asylum-seekers and lawyers who advise asylum-seekers
on their rights are also becoming increasingly wary of CBP searches. One
attorney working with asylum-seekers in Tijuana told NPR that last month,
agents went through sensitive legal documents she was carrying. She asked
to remain anonymous as her organization continues to work in Tijuana. "[The
agent] asked me if I was interviewing people, and then he asked me what
I did for a living. I said I was a lawyer, and he then began reading through
my papers," she said."

Jesus Christ. Why
haven't you gotten his sorry ass into court, Counselor? Moreover,
all documents need to be on highly-encrypted hard drives to protect your
clients against this goddamned blatant, concerted, determined abuse.

"Immigration lawyers are
now particularly concerned about their clients' privacy, after the recent
implementation of the Migrant Protection Protocols, a policy that aims
to keep asylum-seekers in Mexico as their claim is processed. To meet with
clients, American lawyers now have to travel to Tijuana, crossing the border
and possibly exposing sensitive documents to CBP agents."

You're going to have to
find a way to protect the best interests of your clients. Alternative?
All attorneys en masse need to refuse to represent clients under these
circumstances. Do it publicly under the glaring light of media exposure.
Give the Trump nazi and his henchmen yet another issue to have to deal
with, as the public grows increasingly alarmed at the continued nazification
of our formerly great country. No better disinfectant than glaring
sunlight. ... Right, Sheriff?

"Attorney-client privilege
is huge and if they have the right to go through our laptops, through our
phones, if I take a case file with me, and they want to make a copy of
everything, that's definitely breaking attorney-client privilege," said
Maria Chavez, an immigration lawyer based in San Diego."

Are you helpless,
Counselor? Wake up. Haul their goddamned jackbooted
nazi asses into court. Sue the living shit out of them.

"The Department of Homeland
Security has said that lawyers will still be able to meet with their clients
but has not detailed how or when. The first hearings for asylum-seekers
returned to Mexico under MPP have not yet happened."

Again, sue the living
shit out of the Trump nazi and his henchmen. Drag their sorry asses
into court. They're deliberately, determinedly, concertedly f--king
your clients, denying them due process and their constitutional rights.
-- Constitutional rights afforded everyone under U.S. jurisdiction.

"At the same time that
screenings of journalists and lawyers have ramped up, several lawyers have
been barred from entering the country by Mexican authorities because of
new alerts placed on their passports. Mexican officials have told the lawyers
the alerts come from U.S. authorities."

Why are you lawyers putting
up with this shit? Wake up. Again, get the goddamned
government's sorry ass into court. Expose the Trump nazi and his
henchmen for precisely whom and what they are. Nothing quite like
glaring, blinding sunlight. ... Right, Sheriff?

"Two lawyers from the
Tijuana-based organization Al Otro Lado, which plays a central role in
helping asylum-seekers navigate the U.S. immigration system, have been
denied entry into Mexico in recent weeks. Nicole Ramos, a U.S. citizen
and lawyer with Al Otro Lado, had her expedited border crossing card confiscated
by U.S. authorities last month and has since stayed in Mexico. "It's the
epitome of dramatic irony that the U.S. government is telling asylum-seekers
that U.S. attorneys are going to come and handle their cases, but when
you have some of the principal attorneys who handle refugees' issues on
the border attempting to access Mexico, there are alerts placed on our
passports which are causing Mexican officials to deny us entry or deport
us," Ramos told NPR."

The fact this is occurring
courtesy of the Trump nazi and his equally traitorous, treasonous henchmen
needs to be front and center, across all media. Again, expose this
nazi and his henchmen for whom and what they are.

"The ACLU and other organizations,
including Al Otro Lado, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland
Security on Thursday, aiming to stop the rollout of MPP. Several members
of Congress have begun to investigate CBP's questioning practices. Sen.
Ron Wyden's office says the senator has reached out to CBP with questions
about its scrutiny of reporters and activists at the border. CBP declined
repeated requests for comment about specific cases where journalists and
lawyers have been barred from entering Mexico."

These are extremely dangerous
times for our formerly great country. ... Hear the rumble?
An unwanted dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looming.
-- As our legislators and other government officials figuratively 'fiddle
while Rome burns.'

Not good enough.
Nowhere near. Short of an unwanted dreaded second American revolution,
only one way for these atrocities to end. Time for a new federal
agency whose sole function would be to investigate, arrest, charge, prosecute
corrupt, abusive, criminal officers, prosecutors, and judges in a special
court whose sole function would be to adjudicate such cases. Total
independence.

Local and state
authorities are egregiously incapable of handling these cases. Tend to
protect their own. ... Right, Sheriff? Goes with the
territory, doesn't it, Bill? Precisely, why there is no faith
or trust in your criminal jackbooted bastards. Local authorities
here in Nazi Llano County have their heads figuratively, securely
lodged so far up their clueless ass their eyeballs are turning inside out.
Protect and coddle your clueless, out of control officers. Imagine
that.

Unadulterated, blatant
ongoing horse shit. ... Right, Bill? F--k these jackbooted
bastards. Aren't worth a crap. Continually abrogate their oaths
of office to protect and defend the United States Constitution. ...
Right,
Sheriff? Includes not only deputies, but the brass as well.
No principles. No honor. Lying, conniving, abusive, murderous
jackbooted thieving thugs. The American Civil Liberties Union needs
to step up and represent the victims of abusive law enforcement.

To say nothing of innocent
civilians all across our formerly great country who are victimized by abusive
police. Need far better representation than a public defender.
Forget? It's how the bastards in government line government coffers.
All too often, looting the innocent. Those on the bottom of the food
chain. ... Right, Sheriff?

No justice. The
American Way. Nazi America. When is this shit finally going
to end? All of it. Wake up, Sheriff. Again,
where
is dashcam video of the killing of Jeffrey Gray Wise, 52, of Austin by
DPS and the Llano County Sheriff's Office? One hundred forty eight
weeks, now. A goddamned disgrace.

Why are you
still
sitting on this information? What are you hiding, Sheriff?
What is the identity of the officers who killed Wise? Too gutless
to release this information to the public that pays your salary and that
of your goons? Reportedly, there were three officers involved in
the shooting. Who the hell are they?

When will the goddamned
'law' 'enforcement' community finally stop making excuses for engaging
in outrageous criminal activity including blatant murder, violent assault,
sexual assault, theft, drug trafficking, etc.? List can go on and
on. Protecting its own no matter what it does or doesn't do?
Convenient, isn't it, Sheriff? No foreign power, no terrorist organization,
not even the criminal element presents a greater threat to life, liberty,
all civil and constitutional rights and liberties than all branches and
levels of government, -- including law enforcement.

Corruption within law
enforcement remains an existential threat to life, liberty, all civil and
constitutional rights and liberties. So what else is new? ...
Right,
Bill? Same old duplicitous, aggressively stupid shit occurs right
here in Nazi Llano County. ... Doesn't it, Sheriff?

Think it'll change any
time soon? Don't hold your breath, readers. Not how things
work in Nazi America, right, Sheriff? Highly reminiscent
of how your goons operate though, isn't it, Bill? Forget?
'Stupid is as stupid does.' F--ked up is f--ked up no matter where,
no matter how. Problem throughout all law enforcement.

Including right here in
Nazi Llano County, right, Sheriff? Too many officers clearly
have
their heads securely lodged where the sun seldom shines. Egregious
insanity continues to be perpetrated by the criminal jackbooted bastards
in blue. Ongoing issue. All over our formerly great country.

Not just in Dallas as
in the Guyger case, but all over the nation. No end to it.
Surprised? Why? In today's increasingly national socialist
climate anything goes, right, Bill? Live in a de facto fascist
police-state, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's
Fourth Reich.
Certainly, a problem here in Nazi Llano County,
isn't it, Sheriff?
Your goons, however, aren't held accountable when they egregiously f--k
up. Ever.

Equally pointedly,
why hasn't Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 been held criminally
accountable for egregious abuse of power involving denial of property rights
to a Kingsland property owner? To say nothing of consequent resultant
physical damage done to a motor home on that property. Why are you
protecting this clueless son of a bitch, Sheriff?

Why hasn't he been
prosecuted for official oppression? Where is financial compensation
for the damage this jackbooted piece of human excrement is responsible
for? Ferociously pointedly, why are the District Attorney and the County
Attorney continuing to protect this jackbooted piece of shit? He
and others like him present an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil
and constitutional rights and liberties.

Equally to the point,
why are your jackbooted pieces of human excrement refusing to enforce Berardi's
property rights? Your goons have failed to take action against Theresa
Ahrens when she tore down a no trespassing sign and barrier on Berardi's
property. Have you, your goons, and/or Madam County Attorney been
bribed by Johnny Greene?

Why is Theresa Ahrens
allowed by your goons to dictate what vehicles can and cannot be parked
on Berardi's property? Ahrens claims she has proof the property belongs
to her where the vehicle was parked. Has failed to produce it.
Surveyors say otherwise. Back up Berardi. Yet, your jackbooted
bastards refuse to enforce Berardi's property rights. Why?
Somebody lining somebody's pockets, Sheriff?

Ms. Ahrens micro-mini
portable 'house' is parked on an unused unmarked Llano County road.
Imagine that. Madam County Attorney well-aware. Has done nothing.
Shit squat. Egregiously ignored her oath of office. Someone
bribing you, Becky? Lining your pockets, Counselor? Paying
you not to sell the unused unmarked County road to Berardi? Doesn't
the County want and need the sale money, to say nothing of the resultant
tax income?

No question, County
and State agencies remain determinedly, concertedly, achingly incapable
of criminal investigation of their own. Precisely, why a new federal
agency desperately needs to be created whose sole function would be to
investigate, arrest, charge, prosecute corrupt, abusive, criminal officers,
prosecutors, and judges in a special court whose sole function would be
to adjudicate only such cases. Total independence. Certainly,
go a long, long way to cleaning up this cess pool County. Rein in
the outrageously corrupt, abusive, achingly inept, self-serving assholes
who run and own this hell hole.

Sheriff, you falsely
claim the Kingsland County Commissioner has the authority to resolve this
ongoing property rights issue. Clearly, doesn't. You, Madam
County Attorney, and "Sonny Boy" are certainly an egregious impediment,
continue to determinedly stonewall. Someone's pockets are being lined.
Again, where's financial compensation for the damage Llano County Deputy
Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 is directly responsible for to the Pace Arrow?
Why hasn't he been prosecuted for this damage, to say nothing of infringement
of Berardi's property rights? -- Just getting started, Sheriff.
Far more to come.

-- You're not doing your
jobs, Sheriff. You've got a loose vicious dog problem in Kingsland,
Bill. When will you and the troops finally do something about this
ongoing issue? Certainly, a recurring problem on Skyline, particularly
on occasion at the intersection of Odessa. Pedestrians, runners,
and cyclists are at risk. Too busy lining County coffers with bogus
tickets?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-22-19

Some positive change.
CBS News reports:

"The Supreme Court ruled
unanimously Wednesday that the Constitution's ban on excessive fines applies
to the states, an outcome that could help efforts to rein in police seizure
of property from criminal suspects. Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg wrote the
court's opinion in favor of Tyson Timbs, of Marion, Indiana. Police seized
Timbs' $40,000 Land Rover when they arrested him for selling about $400
worth of heroin. The Institute for Justice, which represents Timbs, argued
that under Indiana law, the maximum fine such an offense is $10,000, CBS
affiliate WTTV reported. Reading a summary of her opinion in the courtroom,
Ginsburg noted that governments employ fines "out of accord with the penal
goals of retribution and deterrence" because fines are a source of revenue.
The 85-year-old justice missed arguments last month following lung cancer
surgery, but returned to the bench on Tuesday. Timbs pleaded guilty, but
faced no prison time. The biggest loss was the Land Rover he bought with
some of the life insurance money he received after his father died."

Bloodsuckers. ...
Right,
Sheriff?

"Timbs still has to win
one more round in court before he gets his vehicle back, but that seems
to be a formality. A judge ruled that taking the car was disproportionate
to the severity of the crime, which carries a maximum fine of $10,000.
But Indiana's top court said the justices had never ruled that the Eighth
Amendment's ban on excessive fines - like much of the rest of the Bill
of Rights - applies to states as well as the federal government. The case
drew interest from liberal groups concerned about police abuses and conservative
organizations opposed to excessive regulation. Timbs was represented by
the libertarian public interest law firm Institute for Justice. Law enforcement
authorities have dramatically increased their use of civil forfeiture in
recent decades. When law enforcement seizes the property of people accused
of crimes, the proceeds from its sale often go directly to the agency that
took it, Institute for Justice lawyer Wesley Hottot said in his written
arguments in support of Timbs."

Legalized theft by the
criminal jackbooted bastards in blue and their handlers.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"Supreme Court Justice
Clarence Thomas criticized a landmark press freedom case on Tuesday, calling
for a new look at the rule that public figures cannot successfully sue
for libel unless they can demonstrate that a statement was made with actual
malice. The court ruled in the 1964 case of New York Times v. Sullivan
that a public figure must prove a defamatory statement was made "with knowledge
that it was false or with reckless disregard of whether it was false or
not." The case was brought by a county official in Alabama who claimed
he was defamed by an advertisement in the paper criticizing police response
to the civil rights movement. Thomas called the ruling and similar ones
in follow-on cases "policy-driven decisions masquerading as constitutional
law" and said the court should reconsider. "If the Constitution does not
require public figures to satisfy an actual-malice standard in state-law
defamation suits, then neither should we."

Bullshit. This guy
defends the indefensible, -- in a thinly disguised effort to ultimately
protect and coddle the Trump nazi.

"President Donald Trump
has repeatedly criticized the legal rules for libel actions, calling them
a sham and a disgrace. "We are going to take a strong look at our country’s
libel laws, so that when somebody says something that is false and defamatory
about someone, that person will have meaningful recourse in our courts,"
he said a year ago."

"Thomas' comments came
in an opinion on Tuesday concurring with the court's refusal to hear an
appeal from Katherine McKee, who claimed she was raped by Bill Cosby. She
said Cosby's lawyer leaked a letter that distorted her background and damaged
her reputation. Lower courts dismissed her case, citing the 1964 Times
v. Sullivan precedent. They said by disclosing her accusation against Cosby
to a reporter she "thrust herself to the forefront of a public controversy"
and therefore had to meet the more demanding libel standard applying to
public figures. She appealed those rulings, and the Supreme Court declined
to take the case by an apparently unanimous vote. Thomas said he agreed
the New York Times precedent required that outcome, but he said the 1964
case was wrongly decided."

Think so? Or, does
it truly support freedom of the press, that is, ultimate disclosure
of the truth. Forget? Truth is, and has been, a moving
target for quite some time. The 1964 ruling was an attempt to support
press freedom as guarantied by the First Amendment. Moreover, all
court rulings, generally speaking, strive to balance rights and interests
of all parties. ... Unless the bastards are shamelessly legislating
their outrageously perverse ideological and religious views from the bench.

"Before the Times ruling,
Thomas said, a person claiming defamation needed to prove only that a statement
was false and resulted in ridicule, hatred, or contempt. Libels against
public figures were considered more serious than ordinary defamations,
he said."

Why?

"No other justice joined
his opinion."

Surprised?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-22-19

Former FBI official back
in the news. NBC News reports:

"Former FBI Deputy Director
Andrew McCabe told CBS News' "60 Minutes" that he ordered an obstruction
of justice investigation into President Donald Trump after a conversation
with him immediately following former FBI Director James Comey's firing.
McCabe, who was ousted from the department last March after rising to acting
director following Comey's May 2017 firing, told CBS's Scott Pelley that
he was concerned Trump would try to make the overall investigation into
Russian election meddling go away. "I was speaking to the man who had just
run for the presidency and won the election for the presidency, and who
might have done so with the aid of the government of Russia, our most formidable
adversary on the world stage," McCabe said. "And that was something that
troubled me greatly."

As well it should have.

"One day after that conversation,
McCabe said he "met with the team investigating the Russia cases." "And
I asked the team to go back and conduct an assessment to determine where
are we with these efforts and what steps do we need to take going forward,"
he said. "I was very concerned that I was able to put the Russia case on
absolutely solid ground in an indelible fashion, that were I removed quickly
and reassigned or fired, that the case could not be closed or vanish in
the night without a trace." "I wanted to make sure that our case was on
solid ground," he continued. "And if somebody came in behind me and closed
it and tried to walk away from it, they would not be able to do that without
creating a record of why they'd made that decision."

Sounds like a man who
heroically did his job, at least desperately tried to, right up
to the end.

Clearly, McCabe rattled
the Trump nazi's cage:

"The president attacked
McCabe on Twitter after an initial clip of his interview with Pelley aired
Thursday on "CBS This Morning," calling him "a big part of the Crooked
Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax — a puppet for Leakin’ James Comey."

What a crock of shit coming
from a man increasingly soiling his pants as the noose figuratively tightens:

"Disgraced FBI Acting
Director Andrew McCabe pretends to be a “poor little Angel” when in fact
he was a big part of the Crooked Hillary Scandal & the Russia Hoax
- a puppet for Leakin’ James Comey. I.G. report on McCabe was devastating.
Part of “insurance policy” in case I won....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
February 14, 2019

....Many of the top FBI
brass were fired, forced to leave, or left. McCabe’s wife received BIG
DOLLARS from Clinton people for her campaign - he gave Hillary a pass.
McCabe is a disgrace to the FBI and a disgrace to our Country. MAKE AMERICA
GREAT AGAIN!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
February 14, 2019"

Amazing how the 'President'
re-writes history, -- to say nothing of reality.

NBC News reports:

"President Donald Trump
seconded the allegation that there had been a coup attempt against him
on Monday, before heading out to play golf at his Florida club on Presidents
Day. The president tweeted a quote from Fox News guest Dan Bongino alleging
“an illegal coup attempt” against him, adding “true!” The message capped
off a series of angry tweets Trump wrote on Monday about former acting
FBI Director Andrew McCabe, who gave an explosive interview on 60 Minutes
alleging that FBI Deputy Director Andrew Rosenstein repeatedly discussed
using the 25th Amendment to remove the president from office. The 25th
Amendment is the part of the Constitution that details succession if a
president dies or becomes otherwise incapacitated."

There is good reason for
this Amendment. Should have been invoked. Likely would have
been, -- had it not been for whom would have replaced him. Forget?
Trump is insane. Pence is not.

"The conversations came
in the chaotic days after FBI Director James Comey was fired, McCabe told
CBS, as the FBI became increasingly convinced that the president was obstructing
into the agency's investigation in Russian meddling in the U.S. election.
Rosenstein went as far to offer to wear a wire to the White House to gather
information, McCabe said. (Officials have previously told NBC News Rosenstein
made the remark sarcastically.) McCabe was later fired for lying to FBI
investigators who were investigating a media leak, something McCabe said
was well within the rights of his role to give."

What happened to McCabe
stinks to high heaven. Think Trump and his henchmen were not likely
behind it?

"The Department of Justice
said in a statement that they saw McCabe’s telling of "events as inaccurate
and factually incorrect" saying that the department's "Inspector General
found that Mr. McCabe did not tell the truth to federal authorities on
multiple occasions, leading to his termination from the FBI.”

Simply not credible.
Smacks of undue influence of Trump and his henchmen. Certainly, too
convenient.

In a string of five tweets
Monday, Trump wrote that there were “so many lies” in McCabe’s interview,
calling it “deranged.”

'Kettle calling the pot
black.' LOL. Trump is a congenital liar. Wouldn't know
truth if it figuratively bit him hard on the ass. Simply, not credible.
Lied too many times.

“This was the illegal
and treasonous 'insurance policy' in full action!” Trump wrote in another
tweet."

More bullshit. The
25th Amendment is in existence to protect the country against unfit lunatic
dictators just like Trump.

"Wow, so many lies by
now disgraced acting FBI Director Andrew McCabe. He was fired for lying,
and now his story gets even more deranged. He and Rod Rosenstein, who was
hired by Jeff Sessions (another beauty), look like they were planning a
very illegal act, and got caught.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
February 18, 2019"

Aren't you talking
about yourself, Mr. 'President?' A congenital liar.

"....There is a lot of
explaining to do to the millions of people who had just elected a president
who they really like and who has done a great job for them with the Military,
Vets, Economy and so much more. This was the illegal and treasonous “insurance
policy” in full action!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
February 18, 2019"

More psychotic bullshit
from a narcissistic fascist who has disgraced himself, his office, and
our formerly great country.

"In his Sunday interview,
McCabe said that the president repeatedly worried the FBI by showing an
affinity for Russia. In one meeting, McCabe said the president told an
FBI agent that he did not believe U.S. intelligence on North Korea because
President Vladimir Putin had disputed it."

Stunning, isn't it?

“Essentially, the president
said he did not believe that the North Koreans had the capability to hit
us here with ballistic missiles in the United States. And he did not believe
that because President Putin had told him they did not. President Putin
had told him that the North Koreans don't actually have those missiles,”
McCabe said in the interview on Sunday night. “Intelligence officials in
the briefing responded that that was not consistent with any of the intelligence
our government possesses to which the president replied, 'I don't care.
I believe Putin,'" McCabe added, calling Trump's reaction “astounding”
and “shocking.”

Further indication Trump
is unfit for office.

"McCabe was fired just
hours before he became eligible to collect his pension, after a career
within the FBI. He said on CBS he is considering suing to try and collect
that pension."

Needs to get it into court.
Only way the truth will finally come out, -- whatever that truth turns
out to be.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-22-19

Trump's stooge confirmed
U.S. Attorney General. NPR reports:

"The Senate voted 54-45
on Thursday to confirm William Barr as attorney general, returning him
to a post he first occupied in the administration of President George H.W.
Bush."

"Republicans, including
the panel's chairman, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., say they're satisfied
that Barr will not interfere with special counsel Robert Mueller."

They're delusional.
Clearly, support their nazi fuhrer in the Oval Office and his henchmen
no matter what they do or don't do. Traitorously, treasonously, treacherously
so. Clearly, forgotten their oaths of office.

"They have accepted his
commitments about making public whatever Mueller issues when his work is
complete, so long as it is consistent with the law or regulations."

Precisely gives Trump
and his henchmen all leeway needed. Forget? Barr determines
what
"is consistent with the law or regulations."
Most
convenient, isn't it?

"Today is a great day
for the Department of Justice with the confirmation of William Barr to
be the next Attorney General.

— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC)
February 14, 2019"

Graham has lost himself.
Remains as delusional as his fuhrer. Continues to psychotically
talk out his ass. Certainly, this will likely wind up his legacy.

"Democrats worry that
Barr might be a spy for President Trump at the Justice Department and they
say that Barr hasn't promised unconditionally that he'll release a report
by Mueller if the special counsel's office completes one."

That's a problem.
If the report is not released in its entirety, would certainly lead to
a constitutional crisis. Massive negative public reaction.

The following is precisely
why the Barr nazi remains unfit for office. CBS News reports:

"The longtime Republican
lawyer will assume oversight of Mueller's far-reaching investigation, which
is also probing possible coordination between Trump campaign associates
and the Kremlin. Since the president announced Barr's nomination in early
December, Democratic lawmakers have raised doubts about Barr's ability
to remain neutral while overseeing the probe."

For damned good reason:

"Barr, who led the Justice
Department for a little over a year under President George H. W. Bush,
wrote a memo to deputy attorney general Rod Rosenstein last year in which
he argued the president should not be forced to submit to questioning by
the special counsel. In the memo, Barr argued that "Mueller's obstruction
theory is fatally misconceived" and based "on a novel and insupportable
reading of the law."

Now, we have the
fox guarding the chicken coop. How thoughtful of the Trump nazi.
LOL.

Ferociously damning?
Get this:

"During his confirmation
hearing in January, he assured senators of his independence and said he
would not be bullied by anyone into doing something he believes is wrong
if he takes the helm of the Justice Department. Barr, however, did suggest
he might not release Mueller's final report to the public, saying that
in the event prosecution is declined, the findings may not be made public.
Barr also said he agreed with the longstanding Justice Department opinion
that presidents can't be indicted while in office."

Jesus Christ. Nazi
justice.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-22-19

The following is devastating.
Gross injustice. NPR reports:

"A critical new report
from the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Inspector General finds
the department's student loan unit failed to adequately supervise the companies
it pays to manage the nation's trillion-dollar portfolio of federal student
loans. The report also rebukes the department's office of Federal Student
Aid (FSA) for rarely penalizing companies that failed to follow the rules.
Instead of safeguarding borrowers' interests, the report says, FSA's inconsistent
oversight allowed these companies, known as loan servicers, to potentially
hurt borrowers and pocket government dollars that should have been refunded
because servicers weren't meeting federal requirements. "By not holding
servicers accountable," the report says, "FSA could give its servicers
the impression that it is not concerned with servicer noncompliance with
Federal loan servicing requirements, including protecting borrowers' rights."
"It's hard to look at this as anything other than completely damning,"
says Seth Frotman, a consumer advocate and former government, student-loan
watchdog who is now executive director of the Student Borrower Protection
Center. "This is the most damaging in a long line of investigations, audits,
and reports that show the Department of Education is asleep at the switch
when it is responsible for over a trillion dollars of student loan debt."
The Education Department's independent watchdog reviewed FSA oversight
records from January 2015 through September 2017, a period that includes
both the Obama and Trump administrations.

"The Inspector General's
office writes that, without looking more broadly, the department ignored
the possibility of patterns of failure by servicers that could result in
"increased interest or repayment costs incurred by borrowers, the missed
opportunity for more borrowers to take advantage of certain repayment programs,
negative effects on borrowers' credit ratings, and an increased likelihood
of delinquency or even default."

Both major political parties
remain asleep at the wheel.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-22-19

Think the following won't
result in a constitutional crisis? NPR reports:

"Calling it "a great thing
to do," President Trump declared a national emergency Friday in order to
help finance a long-promised wall on the U.S.-Mexico border. It's a highly
unusual move from an unconventional president."

What he's done may indeed
trigger a constitutional crisis. This man is psychotic. Hopelessly,
self-serving. Lost himself somewhere along the way.

"The move came a day after
Congress approved a spending bill giving Trump more than $1.3 billion in
border security funding, far short of the $5.7 billion he originally claimed
was necessary for a border wall."

Tough shit. Total
waste of taxpayer money. For self-serving, blatant political purposes.
Our lunatic fuhrer has placed himself above country.

"In circuitous remarks
in the Rose Garden, Trump said he was declaring an emergency because of
"an invasion of our country with drugs, with human traffickers, with all
types of criminals and gangs."

Simply, untrue.
Trump is delusional. A liar. Think not? Wake up:

"Illegal border crossings
in the most recent fiscal year (ending in September 2018) were actually
lower than in either 2016 or 2014 and much lower than at their peak around
2000, as NPR has previously fact-checked. Many of the most recent arrivals
are Central American migrants seeking asylum, citing a fear of violence
or persecution back home."

"The President's unlawful
declaration over a crisis that does not exist does great violence to our
Constitution and makes America less safe, stealing from urgently needed
defense funds for the security of our military and our nation. ...

"The President's actions
clearly violate the Congress's exclusive power of the purse, which our
Founders enshrined in the Constitution. The Congress will defend our constitutional
authorities in the Congress, in the Courts, and in the public, using every
remedy available."

The Constitution is clear.
The House enjoys exclusive power of the purse. The Trump nazi is
traitorously abusing power:

"White House officials
say Trump's executive action, including the emergency declaration, will
free up a total of about $8 billion for border wall construction. That
includes the $1.375 billion in the funding bill passed by Congress on Thursday.

"Trump's effort to augment
a border barrier funding compromise crafted by Congress in order to still
get the wall that he's long promised his supporters is also a risky gambit.
Legal challenges and push back from even some within his own party await
Trump in the next phase of the ongoing national political battle over border
security and immigration policy — cementing the issues at the forefront
of his bid for a second term. Trump said Friday he expected such legal
challenges, and predicted they would eventually reach the Supreme Court,
where he said "we'll win, I think." "I didn't need to do this," Trump said
in response to a reporter's question about the emergency declaration. "I
just want to get it done faster, that's all."

Proof positive we now
have a nazi fuhrer in the Oval Office who claims dictatorial power.
This fascist bastard remains an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil
and constitutional rights and liberties. No more than a lunatic traitor.
Congress needs to step up. Hold him accountable.

"Centrist Sen. Susan Collins,
R-Maine, who's up for re-election in 2020, called Trump's planned move
a "mistake" in a statement Thursday. Collins also argued that the National
Emergencies Act, which Trump is likely to invoke, was only "intended to
apply to major natural disasters or catastrophic events, such as the attacks
on our country."

Wake up, Senator.
Why do you and your fellow Republicans continue to support this abomination?
Refuse to hold him accountable?

"Such a declaration
would undermine the role of Congress and the appropriations process; it's
just not good policy. It also sets a bad precedent for future Presidents
— both Democratic and Republican — who might seek to use this same maneuver
to circumvent Congress to advance their policy goals. It is also of dubious
constitutionality, and it will almost certainly be challenged in the courts,"
Collins said."

No question.

"Republican Sen. John
Cornyn represents Texas, which includes the border region that Trump has
claimed is being overrun with drugs and undocumented immigrants, necessitating
a drastic response. Cornyn expressed reservations about the president's
decision. "My concerns about an emergency declaration were the precedent
it would establish," he said. "I also thought it would not be a practical
solution because there would be a lawsuit filed immediately and the money
would presumably be balled up associated with that litigation. I thought
there were other, better alternatives."

Tepid, gutless, mealy-mouthed
responses from both United States Senators to what is now an emerging crisis.

"But to Trump, declaring
a national emergency likely seems to be the only way he can claim victory
after weeks of back-and-forth over funding for border security."

Further proof positive
this lunatic is unfit for office.

"A CNN poll earlier this
month showed Americans oppose — by more than 2-to-1 — Trump using a national
emergency declaration to build a border wall. That seems to be one of the
messages Democratic leaders will home in on during what's likely to be
a new phase in the standoff over border security. In the Democrats' Spanish-language
response to Trump's State of the Union earlier this month, California Attorney
General Xavier Becerra said he would sue the administration if Trump declared
a national emergency to find funds for a border wall. In a statement Thursday,
Becerra doubled down on his earlier commitment. "Any crisis on our border
is of President Trump's own making: family separations, child detention,
turning our backs on asylum seekers, and more. There is no national emergency.
If Trump oversteps his authority and abandons negotiations with Congress
by declaring a fabricated national emergency, we won't only call his bluff,
we will do what we must to hold him accountable," Becerra said. "No one
is above the law."

Trump, his henchmen, and
his equally sick sycophants delusionally believe he is.

The Washington Post
reports:

"President Trump signed
a sweeping spending bill Friday afternoon, averting another partial government
shutdown. The action came after Trump had declared a national emergency
in a move designed to circumvent Congress and build additional barriers
at the southern border, where he said the United States faces “an invasion
of our country.” Trump is seeking to secure about $6.5 billion more in
funding through executive action than Congress approved in a bill passed
Thursday. Many of Trump’s Republican allies have called a national emergency
ill-advised, and Democrats immediately called the move unconstitutional
and vowed to fight it legislatively or in court. Trump also faced criticism
for seeking to divert money from military construction and drug interdiction
programs to pay for the border barriers. The emergency declaration is expected
to face an array of other legal challenges."

No question.

"California officials
are partnering with several “sister states” with the possibility of taking
legal action to block Trump’s emergency declaration, the state’s governor
and attorney general said at a news conference in Sacramento. “This is
a president showing his disdain for the rule of law and our U.S. Constitution,”
California Attorney General Xavier Becerra (D) told reporters, arguing
that Trump had violated the separation of powers in the Constitution. Gov.
Gavin Newsom (D) derided Trump’s effort to build what he terms “a monument
to stupidity” at the southern border. Newsom suggested Trump’s action was
spurred by frustration at being outmaneuvered by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.) in spending negotiations late last year and again in recent
weeks. “Nancy Pelosi has run circles around the president, not once now
but twice,” Newsom said. “He’s embarrassed, and his base needs to be fed.”
The American Civil Liberties Union also announced plans to sue Trump, saying
he was engaging in “a patently illegal power grab that hurts American communities
and flouts the checks and balances that are hallmarks of our democracy.”

Just the beginning.

Consider the ramifications.
Certainly, sets a dangerous precedent. If Trump is successful, think
a future Democratic president wouldn't declare a national emergency vis
a vis gun control, -- or any other pet Democratic project or objective?

NPR reports:

"Here's the central question:
Is it constitutional for the president to ignore Congress's decision not
to give him all the money he wants for a Southern border wall — and instead,
get it through a declaration of a national emergency?"

Article I is clear.
The House controls the purse strings. Not the president.

"Trump clearly anticipates
a court fight, and is looking to the new hard-line conservative Supreme
Court majority for help. As he put it speaking in the White House Rose
Garden Friday: "We will possibly get a bad ruling, and then we'll get another
bad ruling, and then we'll end up in the Supreme Court, and hopefully we'll
get a fair shake." According to the Brennan Center for Justice, presidents
have declared national emergencies 60 times (including Trump) since the
power was codified in 1976. He does have broad power under the emergency
law, but not unlimited power."

That's right. Has
to be a true emergency. This is not.

"Since it is not yet entirely
clear what precise provisions the president is relying on, it is unclear
exactly where the legal battle lines will be drawn. But some basics
are clear. First, Trump will have to prove there is a national emergency.
And he has already said things that will provide problems for government
lawyers in court — for instance, this comment during Friday's announcement:
"I could do the wall over a longer period of time. I didn't need to do
this, but I'd rather do it much faster."

Trump's comment seems
to torpedo any claim this is indeed an 'emergency.' Will likely wind
up in the Supreme Court. Should the five Republican nazis legislate
their outrageously perverse ideological and religious views from the bench
in support of the Trump nazi and his henchmen, will tear an already fractured
nation completely apart.

Not all at Fox are Trump
sick sycophants. The Washington Post reports:

"Unstoppable rhetoric
collided with immovable facts on “Fox News Sunday,” as White House senior
policy adviser Stephen Miller defended President Trump’s national emergency
declaration and invoked the potential for a veto if Congress disapproves
in an interview with Chris Wallace."

Chris Wallace is, and
always has been, a highly-gifted 'take-no-prisoners-style' interviewer,
-- certainly in the mold of his father, the legendary Sixty Minutes
Mike Wallace.

"The segment focused on
the limits of presidential powers to circumvent Congress and procure funds
to build 230 miles of barriers along the southern border. Miller described
an onslaught of drugs and migrants flowing over the border as justification
for the emergency declaration."

Not surprisingly, Wallace
determinedly held the lying bastard's feet figuratively to the fire:

"Yet, like a small army
of fact-checkers have noted before, Wallace told Miller the vast majority
of hard drugs seized by Customs and Border Protection are captured at points
of entry, not between them, and unlawful migration over the border has
fallen 90 percent since 2000."

Clearly, confronted the
bastard with the truth. Did his job. All media need
to do the same. End the filibustering deliberately, concertedly perpetrated
by these assholes every time they're given air time. -- Not a partisan
issue. Both parties do this.

"So what crisis is the
wall supposed to solve? In shades of former defense secretary Donald H.
Rumsfeld’s “unknown unknowns” theory, Miller invoked what could not be
demonstrated by his own administration’s statistics."

LOL. Called bullshit:

“You don’t know what you
don’t know, and you don’t catch what you don’t catch,” Miller told Wallace.
“But as a matter of national security, you cannot have uncontrolled, unsecured
areas of the border where people can pour in undetected.”

Jesus Christ. Sounds
like reincarnation of ole Donny Rumsfeld, doesn't it? LOL.
-- Brings back not-so-pleasant memories of bygone days most of us would
as soon forget. LOL.

"The segment took a tense
turn after Wallace pressed Miller, a self-proclaimed constitutional conservative,
over measures designed to block the president from obtaining funds outside
Congress. That wasn’t an issue, Miller said: “Congress in 1976 passed the
National Emergency Act and gave the president the authority, as a result
of that, to invoke a national emergency in many different circumstances,
but among them the use of military construction funds.” And the military,
conveniently, has already been deployed to the southern border, Miller
noted, and a wall is needed to “secure those areas where they’re patrolling.”
In other words, troops were deployed to help harden the border and now
need barriers to keep them safe from a threat Miller did not describe."

Concertedly determined
bullshit intentionally designed to obfuscate, -- to justify the unjustifiable.
LOL.

"Still, the move lacks
precedent, Wallace said, in how Trump has sought to secure his funds. Miller
repeatedly refused to acknowledge it has not happened before and tried
to fire back with a question of his own."

... Can't dazzle 'em with
brilliance, baffle 'em with bullshit. LOL. Clearly, this most
gifted interrogator would have none of it.

"Wallace sailed past the
dodge. “Then answer my question, can you name one case where a president
has asked Congress for money, Congress has refused, and the president has
then invoked national powers to get the money anyway?”

"Miller responded: “Well
this current situation —”

"Wallace interjected again.
“Just yes or no, sir.”

"Miller answered “no”
in a quick back-and-forth before moving to emergency declarations involving
Zimbabwe as an example of overzealous use of authority — even though the
2003 measure against associates of despot Robert Mugabe was extended by
Trump himself in March."

Media needs to expose
these bastards for precisely whom and what they are. Only way to
do this effectively is to ferociously challenge the bullshit.
Lay it bare. Again, a non-partisan issue. Both parties do this.
Media allow it. Needs to change.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-22-19

Carefully consider the
following. The Washington Post reports:

"Several current and former
Trump administration appointees promoted the sale of nuclear power plants
to Saudi Arabia despite repeated objections from members of the National
Security Council and other senior White House officials, according to a
new report from congressional Democrats. The officials who objected included
White House lawyers and H.R. McMaster, then the chief of the National Security
Council, according to the report, which cited documents obtained by the
committee and accounts of unnamed whistleblowers. The officials called
for a halt in the nuclear sales discussions in 2017, citing potential conflicts
of interest, national security risks and legal hurdles. But the effort
to promote nuclear sales persisted, led by retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn,
who served briefly as President Trump’s national security adviser, and
more recently by Energy Secretary Rick Perry. The possible nuclear power
sale was discussed in the Oval Office as recently as last week. Details
about these internal White House battles are contained in a 24-page report
released Tuesday morning by House Oversight and Reform Committee Chairman
Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.). It said the unnamed whistleblowers inside the
White House came forward because they were distressed at the continued
effort to sell the power plants."

What the hell is going
on here? Gets worse. Get this:

"The report includes a
wide range of allegations and suggests the involvement of a long list of
high-profile people in Trump’s orbit. The White House did not immediately
respond to requests for comment Tuesday. The report's release comes as
Saudi-U.S. relations reach a particularly difficult moment. Following the
death of Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, Congress has expressed
reluctance to continue with a business-as-usual relationship with Riyadh.
The Trump White House has balked at endorsing intelligence reports suggesting
that Saudi Arabia's crown prince Mohammed bin Salman was involved in the
killing."

The question is why?

"The Cummings report notes
that one of the power plant manufacturers that could benefit from a nuclear
deal, Westinghouse Electric, is a subsidiary of Brookfield Asset Management,
the company that provided financial relief to the family of Jared Kushner,
the president’s son-in-law and adviser. Brookfield Asset Management took
a 99-year lease on the family’s deeply indebted New York City property
at 666 Fifth Avenue. “Multiple whistleblowers came forward to warn about
efforts inside the White House to rush the transfer of highly sensitive
U.S. nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia in potential violation of the Atomic
Energy Act and without review by Congress as required by law — efforts
that may be ongoing to this day,” the report says. The whistleblowers also
“warned about a working environment inside the White House marked by chaos,
dysfunction and backbiting. They noted that White House political appointees
repeatedly ignored directives from top ethics advisers who repeatedly —
but unsuccessfully — “ordered senior White House officials to halt their
efforts.”

Fascinating, isn't it?

NPR reports:

"The Trump administration
sought to rush the transfer of American nuclear technology to Saudi Arabia
in potential violation of the law, a new report from the House Oversight
and Reform Committee alleges. Committee Chairman Elijah Cummings's staff
issued an "interim staff" report Tuesday, citing "multiple whistleblowers"
who raised ethical and legal concerns about the process. "They have warned
about political appointees ignoring directives from top ethics advisers
at the White House who repeatedly and unsuccessfully ordered senior Trump
administration officials to halt their efforts," the report states. "They
have also warned of conflicts of interest among top White House advisers
that could implicate federal criminal statutes." The committee's report
alleges that the major drivers behind the effort to transfer of U.S. nuclear
technology were retired Gen. Michael Flynn, who served as the president's
national security adviser, and Thomas Barrack, who chaired the Trump inaugural
committee. Flynn was fired in February 2017 for lying about conversations
with the Russian Ambassador to Vice President Pence and the F.B.I. For
roughly seven months in 2016, including during the presidential transition,
Flynn served as an adviser to IP3 International, a private company seeking
to build nuclear plants in Saudi Arabia. The whistleblowers told the committee
that Flynn continued to advocate for IP3's plan even after he joined the
White House as the president's National Security Advisor in 2017. The Atomic
Energy Act requires that Congress approve any transfer of nuclear technology
to a foreign country. The committee's report states that a senior director
at the National Security Council (NSC), Derek Harvey, "reportedly ignored...
warnings and insisted that the decision to transfer nuclear technology
to Saudi Arabia had already been made."

There is a problem here.
None of this adds up.

"The NSC's lawyers realized
that Flynn had a possible conflict of interest that could violate the law,
the whistleblowers said, and told NSC staff to stop working on the nuclear
technology transfer plan. Despite Flynn's firing in February 2017, the
plan appeared to continue to progress with Barrack's support. The committee
announced intends to launch an investigation into this matter "to determine
whether the actions being pursued by the Trump administration are in the
national security interests of the United States, or, rather, serve those
who stand to gain financially as a result of this potential change in U.S.
foreign policy."

"Tuesday's disclosure
of a plan to sell nuclear technology comes as the United States considers
its relationship with the Saudi government in the wake of the killing of
writer Jamal Khashoggi. Following his death, the House and Senate have
both passed resolutions to limit U.S. involvement in the Saudi-led coalition
fighting in the Yemeni civil war. The Senate also passed a resolution by
voice vote — reflecting unanimity — that was fashioned to "hold Crown Prince
Mohammed bin Salman responsible for the murder of Jamal Khashoggi." The
report also comes as President Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner is scheduled
to travel next week for a trip to the Middle East which includes a stop
in Riyadh, the Saudi capital."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-22-19

The Israeli Prime Minister
is back in the news. For the wrong reason. NBC News reports:

"Israeli Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu startled Iranians and even the White House on Wednesday
with a strident call for Israeli-Arab action against the government in
Tehran that was translated by his office as urging "war with Iran." Although
Israeli officials tried to soften the reference by altering the English
translation, the provocative comment was likely to further the perception
that Israel, its Gulf Arab neighbors and the United States are interested
in using military action to topple the government of Iran. It comes at
a particularly delicate moment, as the Trump administration uses a U.S.-organized
summit in Warsaw and this week's 40th anniversary of the Iranian Revolution
to try to rally the world against the government in Tehran."

Certainly, will do nothing
to improve relations in the region.

"The U.S. government quickly
reached out to Israeli officials to ask for an explanation. A senior U.S.
official traveling with Vice President Mike Pence, who is attending the
summit in Warsaw, said that senior Israeli officials told the U.S. that
it was a matter of bad translation. But Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, a member
of the Senate Intelligence Committee, dismissed the notion that Netanyahu
had simply been mistranslated. "He knew what he meant," King said on MSNBC."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"Last May, officials in
Midlothian, Tex., a city near Dallas, approved more than $10 million in
tax breaks for a huge, mysterious new development across from a shuttered
Toys R’ Us warehouse. That day was the first time officials had spoken
publicly about an enigmatic developer’s plans to build a sprawling data
center. The developer, which incorporated with the state four months earlier,
went by the name Sharka LLC. City officials declined at the time to say
who was behind Sharka. The mystery company was Google — a fact the city
revealed two months later, after the project was formally approved. Larry
Barnett, president of Midlothian Economic Development, one of the agencies
that negotiated the data center deal, said he knew at the time the tech
giant was the one seeking a decade of tax giveaways for the project, but
he was prohibited from disclosing it because the company had demanded secrecy."

Forget? The corporate
management suite runs and owns its bought and paid for lackeys in government.

“I’m confident that had
the community known this project was under the direction of Google, people
would have spoken out, but we were never given the chance to speak,” said
Travis Smith, managing editor of the Waxahachie Daily Light, the local
paper. “We didn’t know that it was Google until after it passed.” After
the deal went through, Sharka changed its main address to that of Google’s
headquarters in Mountain View, Calif. Site work began last fall."

This out of control corporation
presents an exigent threat to privacy, liberty, all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties.

Here's the problem:

"Google — which has risen
to become one of the world’s most valuable companies by transforming the
public’s ability to access information — has vastly expanded its geographic
footprint over the past decade, building more than 15 data centers on three
continents and 70 offices worldwide. But that development spree has often
been shrouded in secrecy, making it nearly impossible for some communities
to know, let alone protest or debate, who is using their land, their resources
and their tax dollars until after the fact, according to Washington Post
interviews and newly-released public records obtained through a freedom
of information act request."

This out of control behemoth
corporation not only makes its money off your private information, but
receives corporate welfare from tax abatement at the very least.

"With their growing reach
into the U.S. economy and in the face of greater political scrutiny, tech
giants including Google and Amazon are on a tear to expand — but communities
now see their arrival more skeptically for the disruption, environmental
impact and higher cost of living they often bring, as well as the incentives
they seek, despite their deep pockets."

... Hear the rumble?
An unwanted dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looming.

"Local officials say they
are pressed to maintain secrecy to lure powerful tech companies, who wish
to avoid controversies and keep details about their operations under wraps.
On Thursday that ability to play hardball was on full display after Amazon
pulled the plug on plans to build a sprawling new campus in New York City
rather than endure further public criticism of the project."

F--k these bastards.
So too local officials who sell out their communities to these greedy corporate
behemoths. Have to wonder how much they receive in kickbacks.

"Amazon’s year-long search
for a second headquarters was criticized for its use of confidentiality
agreements that were so restrictive that officials couldn’t comment on
their existence, and for playing cities against one another in a quest
for government incentives. Even after pulling out of New York, the Seattle-based
company is slated to take in hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks
when it builds its second headquarters in Northern Virginia. (Jeffrey P.
Bezos, the co-founder of Amazon, owns The Washington Post.) Some New York
lawmakers were so outraged by the secrecy of Amazon’s process that they
have introduced bills that would ban nondisclosure agreements for development
projects in the city and state."

Goes without saying.
Why weren't these laws already on the books? Could it be the kickbacks
received discouraged such?

Report goes on and on.
Likely, only scratches the surface of the problem. Clearly, our legislators
and other officials have sold us out. Lined their pockets.
At our expense.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

Highly reminiscent
of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors,
Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black
who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they
please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.
It's appalling. Runs against the grain of everything our formerly
great country once stood for. No longer.

Why wasn't this son of
a bitch immediately arrested? Instead, afforded special treatment.
NPR reports:

"A man in a red Make America
Great Again cap violently shoved a BBC cameraman and shouted profanities
during President Trump's rally in El Paso, Texas, Monday night, in a startling
moment that briefly interrupted the president's speech. The BBC's Ron Skeans
was working in the area of a raised camera platform at Trump's campaign
event when, he says, a "very hard shove" came out of nowhere. At the time,
Trump was touting recent economic numbers to a roaring crowd in the El
Paso County Coliseum. Skeans' colleagues say the apparent attack came after
repeated verbal assaults on the media during the event. The BBC says it
is "clearly unacceptable for any of our staff to be attacked for doing
their job." "I didn't know what was going on," Skeans said, according to
the BBC, describing the moment when his camera suddenly skewed down and
away from the stage. Video footage showed a Trump supporter yelling obscenities
as he was restrained and taken away from the area. The disruption forced
Trump to pause his remarks. Shielding his eyes to see better, the president
asked, "You all right? Everything OK?" He then flashed a thumbs-up sign
in Skeans' direction."

Jesus Christ. ...
After apparently eliciting the attack.

"Other BBC staff who were
at the event said the Trump supporter went after a group of news teams,
and the cameraman had seemingly taken the worst of it."

Again, why wasn't his
sorry ass immediately arrested?

"Trump has repeatedly
called the news media "the enemy of the people" and accused journalists
of creating fake news in an effort to make him look bad. The incident at
the El Paso coliseum comes nearly two years after the president used the
term in a controversial tweet to describe ABC, CBS, CNN, NBC and The New
York Times. Had a very good and interesting meeting at the White House
with A.G. Sulzberger, Publisher of the New York Times. Spent much time
talking about the vast amounts of Fake News being put out by the media
& how that Fake News has morphed into phrase, “Enemy of the People.”
Sad! — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 29, 2018 After Trump steadily
used the "enemy of the people" phrase to describe the media last summer,
he met with New York Times publisher A.G. Sulzberger to discuss the invective.
But days after that meeting, CNN's Jim Acosta posted a video from a camera
position at a Trump event in Tampa, Fla., showed dozens of the president's
supporters shouting insults and making hostile gestures at the news outlet's
staff. Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa.
I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative
media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow
Americans this way. The press is not the enemy. pic.twitter.com/IhSRw5Ui3R
— Jim Acosta (@Acosta) August 1, 2018 Trump's rallies have
triggered altercations before, and he has discussed the idea of whether
protesters who come to the rallies should be "roughed up" or punched in
the face."

Had it been anyone else
other than the Trump nazi doing the same, his sad sorry ass would have
been arrested.

"Despite Trump's professed
disdain for the media, he has long shown a hunger to make headlines and
gain attention for himself. At Tuesday night's rally, for instance, he
pointedly drew the rally attendees' attention to the bank of media who
were covering the event. "Wow, look at all the press back [there]. Can
you believe that?" Trump said, prompting loud boos to echo through the
auditorium. "This is like the Academy Awards used to be," the president
said. "They've gone down a long way since they started hitting us a little
bit, right?"

When was the last time
a U.S. President apparently made so blatant an attempt to incite a crowd
to violence?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

Ill-advised, aggressively
stupid repression never ends. NPR reports:

"After months of threats,
federal prosecutors in Philadelphia launched a legal challenge on Wednesday
against the nonprofit Safehouse, which is hoping to open what could be
the nation's first site where people with opioid addiction can use drugs
under medical supervision."

Can't have that, can we?
Might save a life. Wouldn't want that, would we?

"The civil lawsuit, which
is jointly being pursued by Pennsylvania-based prosecutors and the Department
of Justice in Washington, is the first time the federal government has
intervened in the hotly debated issue of supervised injection sites. The
lawsuit could become an important legal test case as about a dozen cities
across the country consider similar proposals."

Prohibition of alcohol
a century ago was a miserable failure. Instead, gave us the Mafia
and an enormous amount of ancillary crime. Prohibition of drugs has
corrupted every law enforcement agency in our formerly great country to
at least some extent. Has done absolutely nothing, however, to end
or even control drug usage. Has instead turned an enormous amount
of addicts with a devastating health problem into criminals by statute
at the very least.

That is, their only crime,
drug usage itself. To say nothing, however, of those who steal to
support their addiction. Then again, can't confuse idiots in the
GOP with the truth. They're too goddamned stupid to understand prohibition
of anything causes its cost to escalate exponentially. We
already have more than sufficient statutes to handle the criminal ancillary
effects of drug usage such as DWI, physical assault, sexual assault, theft,
etc.. Then again, stupidity remains front and center in the Republican
Party. -- Democrats, no better, -- just different.

Conversely, if you're
indeed stupid enough as an adult to use drugs, won't get off them, won't
accept help, get what you deserve. Enforcement, however should remain
on sale of these substances to minors. -- Take the money out of the
equation, and you solve at least some of the ancillary issues drug usage
generates. This is not a problem that can be solved by law
enforcement, regardless. Only exacerbated. ... As it has been
over the last six decades. ... Right, Sheriff?

"The suit comes just as
Safehouse officials ramp up fundraising efforts and continue to scout a
location for what they say is a medical facility that can save lives. If
federal officials succeed in court, the momentum behind Safehouse may be
lost. "This is in-your-face illegal activity using some of the most deadly,
dangerous drugs that are on the streets. We have a responsibility to step
in," says William McSwain, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of
Pennsylvania. "It's saying, 'Safehouse, we think this is illegal. Stop
what you're doing.' "

Jesus Christ. No
more than aggressively stupid Aryan arrogance of this U.S. Attorney.
Proof positive liberty is the freedom to do what you're told by a jackbooted
bastard in authority.

"According to the suit,
a supervised injection site would violate a section added to the Controlled
Substances Act in the 1980s during the height of the crack epidemic. That
section of law was written to close crack houses, but legal experts say
it has been used more expansively in the past."

-- Repression that did
absolutely nothing to end or control drug usage. Exacerbated the
problem by exponentially increasing the cost of these substances, -- as
well as through creation of a criminal cartel and gangs. Our government
and its jackbooted goons are too damned aggressively stupid, achingly ignorant
to understand this. Won't, can't be confused by the truth.
Worse? Line their pockets off drug usage.

"McSwain's comments affirm
remarks made last year by Rod Rosenstein, deputy U.S. attorney general,
who said in an interview with WHYY that swift and aggressive action would
follow the opening of a supervised injection site. Such facilities operate
in Canada and Europe, but none exist in the United States. That has not
stopped other cities like New York, Denver and Seattle from publicly debating
similar proposals."

Sad, isn't it?

"In Philadelphia, the
one-count civil lawsuit is far from the most assertive posture federal
prosecutors could have taken, McSwain says."

Certainly, true.
Apparently, however, prosecutors know resistance will be swift. That
they're swimming upstream against common sense, to say nothing of reality.

"The suit is asking U.S.
District Court Judge Gerald McHugh to rule on the legality of Safehouse's
plans, rather than waiting for Safehouse to open and then cracking down
with arrests and a prosecution. "We're not bringing a criminal case right
now. We're not arresting anybody. We're not asking to forfeit property.
We're not looking to be heavy-handed," McSwain says. "This can serve everyone's
interest, in order to find out what the court thinks of this. But this,
in our view, is illegal."

Beside the point.
It likely is illegal. The law is stupid. Needs to be changed.
Does not work. Forget? Prosecutors have discretion. This
achingly ignorant, jackbooted, self-righteous asshole is unwilling to exercise
it. Surprised? Why?

"Ronda Goldfein, vice
president and attorney for Safehouse, says federal drug laws were not written
to obstruct a medical facility focused on saving lives and moving people
who are addicted to opioids into treatment. She is confident the court
will rule in Safehouse's favor."

Hopefully, she's right.
Otherwise, hear the rumble?

"We have a disagreement
on the analysis and intention of the law," Goldfein says. "We don't think
it was intended to prevent activities such as this, and perhaps it will
take a court's ruling to move the issue forward." The provision of the
law in question is widely known as the crack house statute. It makes it
illegal to maintain a space for the purpose of making, storing, distributing
or using an illegal drug. Safehouse would not make or provide opioids to
users. But it would allow people to bring in their own drugs, to use while
being monitored by medical staff."

Time to wake up.
Do the right thing. Save lives.

"Safehouse is a privately
run nonprofit that has the support of top city officials but will not be
receiving any taxpayer funding. Planners say they aspire to open a facility
in 2019, though, at least publicly, they have not committed to a more specific
timeline. Philadelphia health officials estimate that opioid-related drug
overdoses kill about three people a day in the city. The more than 1,100
people who died from an overdose last year is triple the murder rate. The
overdose mortality rate hit a five-year low last year, and city officials
attribute the decline to the distribution of naloxone, known by the brand
name Narcan. Transit workers, police and paramedics now all are equipped
with the overdose-reversing drug. Studies have shown that in Canada and
Europe, supervised injection sites have curbed the transmission of HIV
and other infectious diseases. And the programs have been credited with
averting lethal overdoses and extending a link to treatment services."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"President Trump called
Democratic investigations into his administration and business “ridiculous”
and “presidential harassment.” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in turn accused
the president of delivering an “all-out threat” to lawmakers sworn to provide
a check and balance on his power."

As intended by the Founders,
all three branches of government are to serve as check and balance against
the other. The Trump nazi cannot accept this. Forget?
No lunatic dictator can.

"The oversight wars officially
kicked into high gear this week as House Democrats began investigating
the Trump administration in earnest. With Thursday hearings scheduled on
presidential tax returns and family separations at the Mexican border,
and a Friday session to question acting attorney general Matthew G. Whitaker,
the lights are about to shine brightly on a president who had faced little
examination from a Republican Congress."

About time. The
public is entitled to this information. Republicans were derelict
in their duty to rein in their nazi fuhrer.

"But Democrats are moving
carefully after spending weeks forming their committees, hiring staff and
laying the groundwork for coming probes — mindful that Trump is eager to
turn their investigations into a political boomerang as his critics demand
swift action to uncover various alleged misdeeds."

One thing for sure.
Democrats have been very, very careful. In no rush to hold this lunatic
fascist bastard accountable.

"In his State of the Union
address Tuesday, Trump lambasted “ridiculous partisan investigations” and
built a case that undue Democratic oversight would impede progress for
the American people. “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there
cannot be war and investigation,” he said. “It just doesn’t work that way.”

While Pelosi and the Democrats
have their problems, the son of a bitch fascist in the Oval Office has
certainly met his match in the Speaker.

"Pelosi (D-Calif.) reacted
sharply to Trump’s insinuation that there could be no progress on legislation
while lawmakers pry open the doors of his administration. “Presidents should
not bring threats to the floor of the House,” she said. “It’s not investigation;
it’s oversight. It’s our congressional responsibility, and if we didn’t
do it, we would be delinquent in our duties.”

Goddamned right.
About time Democrats rose to the occasion. Republican national socialists
have been sitting on their ass. Have gutlessly refused to rein in
this unfit abomination.

"On Wednesday, Trump dismissed
a new probe launched by the House Intelligence Committee into his foreign
business entanglements, calling its chairman, Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.),
a “political hack.”

Trump himself is not precisely
what he accuses Schiff of being? Give me a break. They're all
political hacks. Both parties. The hypocrisy of the Trump nazi?
Off the charts.

“No other politician has
to go through that,” he said. “It’s called presidential harassment. And
it’s unfortunate. And it really does hurt our country.”

More bullshit. What
did both Clintons endure for years, -- deserved or not? Give me a
break. Goddamned kettle calling the pot black. This son of
a bitch has no credibility.

"While Democrats show
no sign of being cowed by Trump, leaders are trying to walk a deliberate
line — wary of being seen as haphazardly tilting at presidential windmills
or being too timid in uncovering potential misdeeds."

Republicans certainly
displayed no restraint the last two and a half decades.

“We’re going to do our
homework first,” said House Oversight Committee Chairman Elijah E. Cummings
(D-Md.), whose panel is scheduled to receive testimony from Commerce Secretary
Wilbur Ross next month. “What [Republicans] would do is, they would go
out and make headlines a week or two before the hearing and then look for
some facts to prove the headlines. We’re not doing that.”

Certainly, not.
You are dragging your feet, however. Making it easier, giving
the Trump nazi and his henchmen time to carefully consider, then concoct
their plans to stonewall.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

New Mexico stands up to
the Trump nazi. NBC News reports:

"The governor of New Mexico
ordered the state’s National Guard to withdraw a majority of its troops
from the southern border, slamming what she called President Donald Trump’s
“charade” shortly before his State of the Union address on Tuesday. “New
Mexico will not take part in the president’s charade of border fear-mongering
by misusing our diligent National Guard troops,” Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham
said in a statement. Lujan Grisham, who was elected as the first Latina
Democratic governor of the state in November, said she rejected the “federal
contention that there exists an overwhelming national security crisis at
the southern border.” She also ordered troops from outside of the state,
including Arkansas, Kansas, Kentucky, New Hampshire, South Carolina and
Wisconsin, to return to their home states."

This Governor clearly
has guts, -- and compassion:

"While Lujan Grisham ordered
the withdrawal of many of the troops, she also directed troops in Hidalgo
County and the surrounding southwestern areas to remain in place. Those
troops will continue to "assist with the ongoing humanitarian needs of
communities there, who have seen large groups of families, women and children
crossing over the border in the remote Antelope Wells area in recent months,"
she said. “I recognize and appreciate the legitimate concerns of residents
and officials in southwestern New Mexico, particularly Hidalgo County,
who have asked for our assistance, as migrants and asylum-seekers continue
to appear at their doorstep,” she said. That small group consists of around
a dozen guardsmen, according to The Associated Press."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

Think Whitaker lied?
Or, told the truth. NBC News reports:

"Acting Attorney General
Matt Whitaker told lawmakers Friday he has not shared information he’s
received about special counsel Robert Mueller’s probe with President Donald
Trump or any senior White House officials, nor has he personally taken
any actions to interfere in it. “We have followed the special counsel’s
regulations to a T,” Whitaker said at a House Judiciary Committee hearing."

Believe it?

"But the much-anticipated
first appearance of a high-ranking Trump administration official before
the newly-empowered Democratic majority produced early fireworks on the
issue of executive privilege, as Whitaker said he reserved the right not
to answer questions that involve his personal conversations with the president."

Nothing quite like Republican
nazi Aryan arrogance, is there?

Gets worse:

"At one point, when asked
by House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., about whether he had
to approve any actions by the special counsel, Whitaker pointed out that
it appeared the time allotted for his round of question had expired. “Mr.
Chairman, I see that your five minutes is up,” Whitaker said to gasps from
the hearing room, but laughter from Nadler. “I am here voluntarily, we
have agreed to five minute rounds.”

Jesus Christ.

"Whitaker ultimately answered.
“There has been no event, no decision that has required me to take any
action, and I have not interfered in any way with the special counsel’s
investigation,” he said."

Believe it?

"Democrats hoped Friday’s
hearing would address their concerns about whether Whitaker’s promotion
to acting attorney general last November was part of an effort by the president
to undercut the Mueller probe. The former attorney general, Jeff Sessions,
had recused himself from overseeing its work. Republicans — and later Whitaker
himself — accused Democrats of trying to stage a retroactive confirmation
hearing. “It is your five minutes and you can ask the questions that are
of most interest to you,” Whitaker said before a break in the proceedings.
“But as I sit here today, I would like to talk about the incredible work
that we have been doing.”

Horse shit. The
Trump nazi and his henchmen present an exigent threat to life, liberty,
all civil and constitutional rights and liberties. This is raw nazism.
-- As our formerly great country transitions from a de facto fascist police-state
to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"The Senate will vote
next week on William Barr’s nomination as the new attorney general. But
Democrats did press Whitaker on issues he has had authority over in the
meantime. In his opening statement, Nadler focused on the fact that Whitaker
ignored the advice of the Department of Justice's ethics officials that
he recuse himself based on his prior criticism of the counterintelligence
probe as a cable news pundit. “You decided that your private interest in
overseeing this particular investigation — and perhaps others from which
you should have been recused — was more important than the integrity of
the department. The question that this committee must now ask is: why?”
Nadler said. Whitaker said that Trump “did not ask for, and I did not provide
any commitments, promises concerning” the Mueller investigation, and that
he did not discuss his views about it with him or other senior White House
officials prior to becoming Sessions’ chief of staff."

Hard to believe.
Forget? Stonewalling, bullshit, and lies are stonewalling,
bullshit, and lies.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

Trouble in corporate paradise.
The
Washington Post reports:

"The National Enquirer’s
parent company insisted that it had “acted lawfully” but pledged to thoroughly
investigate extortion claims by Amazon.com chief executive Jeffrey P. Bezos."

Imagine that. Couldn't
be, could it? LOL.

"Bezos said Thursday that
the Enquirer threatened to publish intimate pictures of him unless he backed
off an investigation of the tabloid. In an extraordinary post to the online
publishing platform Medium, Bezos said the Enquirer and its parent company,
American Media Inc., made the threat after he began investigating how the
tabloid obtained text messages that revealed his relationship with former
TV anchor Lauren Sanchez. Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, wrote that
the Enquirer wanted him to make a false public statement that he and his
security consultant, Gavin de Becker, “have no knowledge or basis for suggesting
that AMI’s coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political
forces.”

Bezos would not play ball:

"Bezos declined to do
so. Instead, he published what he said were emails from Enquirer executives
to a lawyer representing de Becker. In one, top Enquirer editor Dylan Howard
appears to suggest that the tabloid would publish a series of photos of
Bezos and of Sanchez, some of them salacious, if AMI’s terms weren’t met.
After Bezos published his statement, Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter Ronan
Farrow said that he “and at least one other prominent journalist” had received
similar blackmail threats from the Enquirer’s parent company over their
reporting. Farrow had written about the Enquirer’s “catch and kill” practice
— in which stories are squelched by paying off sources — that benefited
Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign. Farrow, like Bezos, said he
refused to cut a deal with the National Enquirer or AMI.In a statement,
American Media said it was investigating Bezos’s claims."

Think so? LOL.

“American Media believes
fervently that it acted lawfully in the reporting of the story of Mr. Bezos.
Further, at the time of the recent allegations made by Mr. Bezos, it was
in good faith negotiations to resolve all matters with him," said the statement
from the board, which is chaired by AMI’s chief executive, David Pecker.
"Nonetheless, in light of the nature of the allegations published by Mr.
Bezos, the Board has convened and determined that it should promptly and
thoroughly investigate the claims. Upon completion of that investigation,
the Board will take whatever appropriate action is necessary.”

Get this:

"The extraordinary allegations
by the world’s richest man and an award-winning journalist raised serious
questions about whether a media company known for its loyalty to President
Trump was engaged in legitimate newsgathering, or something else. Bezos
said the threatening letter encouraged his team to use “common sense.”
“I wanted to describe to you the photos obtained during our newsgathering,”
Howard wrote, going on to say that the Enquirer had a “below the belt selfie”
of Bezos, among other shots. Howard added, “It would give no editor pleasure
to send this email. I hope common sense can prevail?—and quickly.” Bezos
noted that the email “got my attention,” but said that “any personal embarrassment
AMI could cause me takes a back seat because there’s a much more important
matter involved here. If in my position I can’t stand up to this kind of
extortion, how many people can?”

Always best to stand up
to an extortion attempt. If the above is true, Bezos stood tall.

"The Bezos story spilled
into public view on Jan. 9 when Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, revealed
they would be divorcing after 25 years of marriage — roughly two days after
the Enquirer had informed him it would be publishing a story about his
relationship with Sanchez. The Enquirer later published what it called
“sleazy text messages and gushing love notes” between Bezos and Sanchez,
raising questions about how the tabloid was able to get such intimate material.
Bezos began to investigate how the leak of his private information came
about."

Question to be asked is
why would the Enquirer have any interest in this story had it not been
for the following:

"Pecker has had a long
friendship with President Trump, who has repeatedly attacked Bezos, Amazon
and The Washington Post. Pecker directed the Enquirer to write favorable
stories about Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign, while paying
$150,000 to former Playboy model Karen McDougal to suppress her claim of
a long-running affair with Trump. On Jan. 31, de Becker was quoted in the
Daily Beast suggesting that the Enquirer’s pursuit of Bezos was politically
motivated."

Highly likely that's true.

"On Feb. 5, The Post reported
that Bezos and de Becker suspected that the source of the text and photo
leaks may have been Sanchez’s brother, Michael, a California public relations
executive who is close to Pecker and various figures in Trump’s orbit,
including former campaign advisers Roger Stone and Carter Page. Michael
Sanchez denied any involvement in revealing his sister’s relationship with
Bezos. The Post reported that Sanchez said he was told by multiple people
at AMI that the Enquirer set out to do “a takedown to make Trump happy.”
Pecker is now cooperating with federal investigators who are looking into
the company’s involvement with the Trump campaign."

What webs we weave.

Gets more interesting:

"On Friday deputy White
House press secretary Hogan Gidley said he was “not sure” if the president
is aware of Bezos’s allegations. “We’re not going to get into a conversation
about something between Jeff Bezos and a tabloid magazine.”

That right? LOL.
What's the problem? Trump tired of all the scandals he's been involved
in and tried to suppress? LOL.

"Bezos’s public letter
seems to suggest that federal agents should investigate whether AMI may
have violated the terms of its non-prosecution agreement with prosecutors
in Manhattan over its role in the 2016 hush money payments."

If indeed fact, fascinating,
isn't it?

“Rather than capitulate
to extortion and blackmail, I’ve decided to publish exactly what they sent
me, despite the personal cost and embarrassment they threaten,” Bezos wrote.
In the next sentence, Bezos describes the non-prosecution agreement struck
in September between AMI and the Justice Department."

Again, if indeed fact,
fascinating, isn't it? Must not be forgotten, however, truth is a
moving target.

"A spokesman for the U.S.
attorney’s office in Manhattan did not immediately comment on Bezos’s assertion
that AMI had committed extortion. Robert Mintz, a former federal prosecutor
now in private practice, said Bezos’s allegations, if accurate, could have
serious consequences for both prosecutors and AMI. “This could constitute
criminal conduct in the eyes of a prosecutor, if these allegations are
true,” said Mintz. “For prosecutors, your worst nightmare is watching a
cooperation deal unravel. Alleged conduct like this puts them in the position
to rethink that deal and potentially turn around and have to prosecute
AMI, and that undermines their ability to continue to use them to assist
other ongoing investigations.”

Again, what webs we weave.

Gets even worse:

"Bezos said in his Medium
post that the tabloid threatened to keep the photos on hand and publish
them in the future “if we ever deviate from [the] lie” that politics played
no role in the Enquirer’s pursuit of Bezos’s relationship with Lauren Sanchez.
In addition, he included emails from AMI’s deputy general counsel, Jon
Fine, detailing a list of terms under which AMI said it would withhold
publication of the photos. One of those terms was a statement from Bezos
and de Becker “affirming that they have no knowledge or basis for suggesting
that [AMI’s] coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political
forces.”

Readers are again reminded
Bezos is indeed the owner of The Washington Post.

"In his post on Medium,
Bezos called his ownership of The Post “a complexifier” for him. He wrote
that it’s “unavoidable that certain powerful people who experience Washington
Post news coverage will wrongly conclude I am their enemy. President Trump
is one of those people, obvious by his many tweets. Also, The Post’s essential
and unrelenting coverage of the murder of its columnist Jamal Khashoggi
is undoubtedly unpopular in certain circles.”

While there is bias in
every publication, readers are reminded The Washington Post has
also run stories unflattering to Democrats.

"It’s not clear how the
Enquirer acquired the texts between Bezos and Sanchez. Bezos commissioned
de Becker — his longtime security consultant — to investigate how the material
fell into the Enquirer’s hands. The Enquirer has said that it obtained
the texts and photos lawfully, and that it had the right to publish the
material under the “fair use” doctrine of copyright law. It also said the
photos were newsworthy, given Bezos’s prominence. But as Bezos began to
investigate the leak, the tabloid’s parent disputed any suggestion that
its story was politically motivated. The company “emphatically rejects
any assertion that its reporting was instigated, dictated or influenced
in any manner by external forces, political or otherwise,” Fine wrote in
an email to de Becker’s lawyer, Martin Singer, which Bezos shared. “Simply
put, this was and is a news story.”

The above has no credibility.
Outrageously disingenuous considering Trump's relationship with Pecker.

"The cooperation agreement
federal prosecutors in New York signed with AMI after the media company
admitted it paid former Playboy model Karen McDougal $150,000 before the
2016 election to silence her allegations about an affair with President
Trump, stipulates only that the company will not be prosecuted for that
incident. It says that AMI “shall commit no crimes whatsoever,” or be subject
to potential federal prosecution. Legal minds disagree over whether the
corporation’s actions meet the threshold of criminality. Among the key
questions for investigators, according to Alex Spiro, a partner at Quinn
Emanuel and a former prosecutor, was whether AMI obtained the photos unlawfully,
or encouraged someone else to do so. As is the case with many First Amendment
issues, the standard of what is considered improper can change because
Bezos is a public figure, he said. “Publishing embarrassing photos of someone
isn’t a crime in and of itself," he said."

Not all agree:

"But Ted Boutrous, a veteran
lawyer who briefly represented McDougal in a dispute with the Enquirer,
said the emails Bezos described in his post are “a textbook example of
blackmail and extortion. It’s ripped right out of the law books.” He added,
“At an extreme level, this shows how frightening it should be to the citizens
of the United States that the National Enquirer reportedly has a safe full
of information about the president of the United States. That’s one of
the dangers to democracy of what they were engaged in when they were catching
and killing information they could have used against Candidate Trump and
now President Trump. ... It’s a shocking and frightening thing Mr. Bezos
has revealed.”

Certainly so, again, --
if indeed true.

"Jerry George, the former
Los Angeles bureau chief of the National Enquirer, told CNN on Thursday
that the media company he used to work for may have gone too far. The threats,
he said, were “nothing short of extortion.” “I think they thought they
were smarter than they are," he said, “and I think now the reality is hitting
them and they’re freaking out.”

Think so?

The following is NPR/AP's
take:

"Amazon CEO and Washington
Post owner Jeff Bezos accused American Media Inc., the parent company of
the National Enquirer, of extortion by threatening to publish potentially
embarrassing personal photos of him if he did not stop an investigation
into how the tabloid obtained other private photos and texts of him and
his girlfriend. In a blog post on the Medium.com website, Bezos revealed
what he characterized as "extortion and blackmail" by publishing a series
of emails he says were exchanged by his and AMI's attorneys. "I was made
an offer I couldn't refuse," wrote Bezos. "Or at least that's what the
top people at the National Enquirer thought. I'm glad they thought that,
because it emboldened them to put it all in writing."

If true, sounds like extortion.

"The dispute, and the
extraordinary release of an agreement apparently proposed by AMI, stems
from the publication last month by the National Enquirer of a story about
Bezos and an extramarital affair with former TV anchor Lauren Sanchez.
Bezos ordered his team of private investigators, led by security consultant
Gavin de Becker, to find out how the National Enquirer had obtained intimate
texts between himself and Sanchez. In an email purportedly from AMI Chief
Content Officer Dylan Howard, he writes to an attorney for De Becker that
the company obtained "during our newsgathering" several other unpublished
selfie photos of Bezos and Sanchez in sexually suggestive settings."

Hardball, if true.

"...[In] the interests
of expediating [expediting?]
this situation, and with The Washington Post poised to publish unsubstantiated
rumors of The National Enquirer's initial report, I wanted to describe
to you the photo obtained during our newsgathering," Howard is quoted as
saying. After describing the photos in detail, Howard concludes, "It would
give no editor pleasure to send this email. I hope common sense can prevail--and
quickly." Bezos wrote that AMI intends to publish the personal photos
"unless Gavin de Becker and I make the specific false public statement
to the press that we 'have no knowledge or basis for suggesting that AMI's
coverage was politically motivated or influenced by political forces.'
" In another purported email, AMI Deputy General Counsel Jon Fine agrees
not to publish or distribute the materials and to keep the agreement secret.
But he also threatens to publish the photos if Bezos and his associates
breach the agreement.

"Here's how Bezos describes
AMI's proposal: "Be assured, no real journalists ever propose anything
like what is happening here: I will not report embarrassing information
about you if you do X for me. And if you don't do X quickly, I will report
the embarrassing information."

"These communications
cement AMI's long-earned reputation for weaponizing journalistic privileges,
hiding behind important protections, and ignoring the tenets and purpose
of true journalism," Bezos wrote in his blog post. "Of course I don't want
personal photos published, but I also won't participate in their well-known
practice of blackmail, political favors, political attacks, and corruption.
I prefer to stand up, roll this log over, and see what crawls out."

NBC News reports:

"In the hours after Amazon
CEO Jeff Bezos publicly accused the National Enquirer's parent company
of "extortion and blackmail," prominent names in journalism and one Hollywood
star alleged the tabloid giant had tried to intimidate or threaten them,
too. The allegations could put even more scrutiny on American Media and
its chief executive, David Pecker, a longtime ally of President Donald
Trump. Pecker has been accused of buying controversial stories about Trump
to keep them private — a media industry practice known as "catch and kill."
Investigative journalist Ronan Farrow said in a tweet Thursday night that
he and "at least one other prominent journalist" who had reported on the
link between the National Enquirer and Trump received what he characterized
as "stop digging or we'll ruin you" blackmail threats from AMI. "I did
not engage as I don't cut deals with subjects of ongoing reporting," Farrow
said in the tweet. In a direct response to Farrow's tweet, former Associated
Press investigative editor Ted Bridis said: "We were warned explicitly
by insiders that AMI had hired private investigators to dig into backgrounds
of @AP journalists looking into the tabloid's efforts on behalf of Trump."

"We were warned explicitly
by insiders that AMI had hired private investigators to dig into backgrounds
of @AP journalists looking into the tabloid’s efforts on behalf of Trump.
Never saw evidence of this either way, and it didn’t stop our reporting.

— Ted Bridis (@tbridis)
February 8, 2019"

Plot thickens:

"In an article published
Thursday night, the Daily Beast's Lachlan Markay reported that the publication
and "a member of its staff were threatened by AMI's attorneys." The article
did not characterize the alleged threats in detail.

"In the process of reporting
those stories, The Beast and a member of its staff were threatened by AMI’s
attorneys." https://t.co/BuaoenHGJe

— Noah Shachtman (@NoahShachtman)
February 8, 2019"Imagine if Pecker and
his pals put as much effort into getting scoops as they do into threatening
people," Daily Beast editor in chief Noah Shachtman told NBC News on Friday.
"It's the latest reminder — as if we needed one — that there's nothing
too low for this crowd."

Get this:

"One notable accusation
against AMI came from outside the news industry. The actor Terry Crews
tweeted that AMI allegedly tried to "silence" him as well:

"This same company, AMI,
tried to silence me in my lawsuit against @wme and Adam Venit by fabricating
stories of me with prostitutes— and even went so far as creating fake receipts.

"I called their bluff
by releasing their threats online. They blinked. https://t.co/S6lMZ5K6Tb

— terry crews (@terrycrews)
February 8, 2019"Crews has alleged that
William Morris Endeavor agent Adam Venit grabbed and squeezed his crotch
at a 2016 party. Venit denied the allegation in court documents. Crews
and Venit agreed to settle the actor's civil lawsuit in September. Venit
did not admit to the allegations but did take responsibility for the situation
in a letter of apology to Crews."

Remember the following?
Certainly, indicates this has been a problem quite some time:

"The flood of accusations
against AMI recalled a 2017 op-ed, published in the Washington Post, by
MSNBC "Morning Joe" co-hosts Mika Brzezinski and Joe Scarborough, who said
that "top White House staff members warned that the National Enquirer was
planning to publish a negative article about us unless we begged the president
to have the story spiked."

"We ignored their desperate
pleas," the MSNBC anchors wrote."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

Delusionally believe Trump
and the Republicans are any more conservative than Democrats? Wake
up. The national socialist, fascist, nazi bastards are lying
to you. NPR reports:

"The U.S. government's
public debt is now more than $22 trillion — the highest it's ever been.
The Treasury Department data comes as tax revenue has fallen and federal
spending continues to rise. The new debt level reflects a rise of more
than $2 trillion from the day President Trump took office in 2017. Despite
being in the second-longest economic expansion since the post–World War
II boom, the U.S. is projected to rack up annual deficits and incur national
debt at rates not seen since the 1940s, according to the Congressional
Budget Office."

Why? Where is all
this money going? Certainly, not into the pockets of the bottom of
the food chain and middle class. Corporate war profiteers are lining
their pockets. To say nothing of the rest of the out of control corporate
management suite. Not to neglect to mention all the waste and theft.

"Over the next 10 years,
annual federal deficits — when Congress spends more than it takes in through
tax revenues — are expected to average $1.2 trillion, which would be 4.4
percent of gross domestic product. That's far higher than the 2.9 percent
of GDP that has been the average for the past 50 years. "Other than the
period immediately after World War II, the only other time the average
deficit has been so large over so many years was after the 2007–2009 recession,"
the CBO said last month."

Both major political parties
are deliberately, concertedly, determinedly f--king the public. Think
not? Wake up:

"Annual deficits and the
national debt rose to new heights under the Obama administration, and the
trend has continued under President Trump."

Couldn't be, could it?
LOL. Doesn't the Trump nazi claim to be a 'conservative?'

"As a share of the U.S.
economy, the national debt stood at 78 percent of GDP in 2018. But the
CBO says it will rise to 93 percent by the end of 2029. Again, those numbers
put the ratio at levels not seen since just after World War II. "By 2029,
debt is estimated to reach $28.7 trillion," the CBO said in January, referring
to federal debt held by the public — a figure that doesn't include the
billions of dollars that the government owes to itself. In recent years,
those intragovernmental holdings have hovered well above $5.5 trillion."

Hear the rumble?
An unwanted dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looming,
as the clueless bastards in Washington fiddle while Rome burns.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

U.S. Supreme Court rises
to the occasion. The Washington Post reports:

"Chief Justice John G.
Roberts Jr. joined with the Supreme Court’s liberals Thursday night to
block a Louisiana law that opponents say would close most of the state’s
abortion clinics and leave it with only one doctor eligible to perform
the procedure. The justices may yet consider whether the 2014 law — requiring
doctors at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at nearby hospitals
— unduly burdens women’s access to abortion. The Louisiana law has never
been enforced, and the Supreme Court in 2016 found a nearly identical Texas
law to be unconstitutional. “The Supreme Court has stepped in under the
wire to protect the rights of Louisiana women,” said Nancy Northup, president
and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, which represented the law’s
challengers. “The three clinics left in Louisiana can stay open while we
ask the Supreme Court to hear our case. This should be an easy case — all
that’s needed is a straightforward application of the court’s own precedent.”

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

Terrorists in the anti-abortion
fringe are at it again. NPR reports:

"The names of 14 Planned
Parenthood workers and others will remain sealed during the trial of two
anti-abortion activists who are charged with secretly recording them, a
California judge ruled Monday."

Damned good reason for
it.

"The order by San Francisco
Superior Court Judge Christopher Hite came in a preliminary hearing in
the prosecution of David Daleiden and Sandra Merritt of the Center for
Medical Progress. Hite said that he would punish anyone discovered to have
published the names of the workers, which were already ordered to remain
secret when Daleiden and Merritt were first charged in California in 2017.
The judge's order came after an anti-abortion website published the names
over the weekend."

Nazis in the Religious
Right present an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties. These fascist bastards are determined to force
their outrageously perverse ideological and religious views on all.
Have become a reincarnation of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini.

"California prosecutor
Johnette Jauron said it was necessary to keep the workers' names confidential
because "they are in fear of bodily harm." Prosecutors offered an affidavit
by one Planned Parenthood worker who said that Daleiden sent a text to
her phone number in 2016 and said, "I know a lot has happened in the past
year, and maybe I'm the last person you want to hear from. But if there's
anything I can do to help you, please let me know."

Jesus Christ. How
about that? Galling psychotic Aryan arrogance of the yellow-bellied
Nazi Right. ... As our formerly great country transitions from the
de facto fascist police-state we've lived in since 9/11 to the Trump nazi's
Fourth
Reich.

"Daleiden and Merritt
have pleaded not guilty and say that they are citizen journalists whose
activities are protected under the Constitution."

Not if it involves terroristic
threat and/or breaking the law.

"They are accused of secretly
recording videos in 2005 purporting to show that Planned Parenthood workers
were agreeing to sell fetal tissue for profit, a practice the group denies.
Planned Parenthood says the videos were deceptively edited and that it
had only charged medical researchers for the costs of shipping, or other
expenses tied to donating the tissue. Planned Parenthood says it has since
stopped asking for reimbursements for shipping costs. Planned Parenthood
has made the unusual legal demand to join the state's prosecution of the
anti-abortion activists. The organization says it is worried about the
workers' safety and wants its lawyers to be able to object to defense lawyers'
questions that might identify the workers. Daleiden and Merritt each face
14 counts of invasion of privacy. Planned Parenthood filed a federal lawsuit
against the Center for Medical Progress in 2016. Last year a federal judge
barred the release of some of the videos."

These national socialist,
fascist, nazi bastards have no right to force their outrageously perverse
ideological and religious views on others.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

Rep. Conaway has no clue
what liberty means. In his most recent newsletter, the Congressman
writes:

"Gradually, though no
one remembers exactly how it happened, the unthinkable becomes tolerable.
And then acceptable. And then legal. And then applaudable." - Joni Eareckson
Tada

"There is nothing more
sacred, and no greater gift from God, than life. But across the country,
we're seeing exactly that happen, through attacks on the sanctity of life.
New York recently passed a law allowing doctors to perform abortion at
any point in the pregnancy when there is "an absence of fetal viability,"
which includes abortions well after the child has a heartbeat, is capable
of feeling pain, and can survive outside the womb."

Not your uterus,
Congressman. You and others who think like you have no right to force
your outrageously perverse ideological and religious views on others by
statute. None of your goddamned business. To Republican national
socialists, fascists such as yourself, sir, liberty is no more than the
freedom to do what you're told. That's intolerable horse shit.

"In Congress, we're working
on over a dozen pieces of legislation to protect life. This week, we introduced
the Born-Alive Abortion Survivors Protection Act, which requires immediate
medical attention for a baby born alive during an attempt to abort. We've
also introduced legislation to defund Planned Parenthood, prohibit abortion
in cases where a fetal heartbeat is detectable, and stop Planned Parenthood
from sending aborted children's remains to landfills. And we will keep
fighting to protect life, because there is nothing more important."

Congressman, you're a
goddamned liar. Where is your concern for those who have been executed,
at least some of whom were innocent? Ferociously pointedly, where
is your concern for innocent, unarmed civilians who are gutlessly murdered
by the criminal jackbooted bastards in blue who follow a 'shoot first,
ask questions later' mentality and policy?

Who the hell are you and
other fascists who think like you to force your views on others?
It's un-American. Right Wing Nazi. Fascism, nazism,
national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government, business,
and religion. 'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of the latter.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"This week, President
Trump gave a strong State of the Union address and highlighted the incredible
successes we’ve seen the past two years. From the lowest unemployment in
half a century, to expanded economic opportunity for hard-working Americans,
the last two years have been a testament to common-sense policies that
work."

Cruz delusionally re-writes
reality. The State of the Union is the worst its been in decades.
Our formerly great country is deeply divided. Dangerously, so.
What 'successes?' Lining the pockets at the top of the food chain?
The middle class remains an endangered species as the Trump nazi and his
henchmen desperately attempt to give it all to the top 1%. Bottom
of the food chain continues to be denied assistance at a record pace under
Trump.

While unemployment is
statistically the lowest it's been in quite some time, must not be forgotten
these statistics do not include workers who have given up looking for employment,
or those who remain underemployed. Worse, full employment means shit
squat when those on the bottom and lower middle class do NOT earn a livable
wage.

Forget? Trump and
his fellow Republicans deliberately skew all wealth to the top. Precisely,
how the wealthy get their wealth. Steal it from the bottom and middle
class. Zero-sum, winner-take-all. Certainly, one of the reasons
why this country is coming apart at the seams. What 'common-sense
policies that work?' For whom? Top of the food chain?
Certainly, not those on the bottom and lower middle class.

"And as the President
makes clear, we need to secure our southern border with a border wall."

'Clear' to whom?
Racist, bigoted national socialists, fascists, nazis like yourself, Senator?
That
ignorant, Ted? Delusionally, believe in 13th Century technology?
Psychotically believe a wall cannot be gone over, through, or under? Wake
up. Stupidity is unbecoming a United States Senator, sir.
You and your fellow nazis are moving backwards.

-- To line the pockets
of unbridled, hopelessly greedy corporate profiteers who steal our
money, public money, firmly planted on the taxpayer tit. More border agents,
electronic technology, and fences where needed are a far better, cheaper
alternative. Treatment of those seeking asylum is appalling.
In the mold of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini.

"Democrats voted for 350
miles of border wall back in 2013, but this year they shut the government
down to stop building 234 miles of wall."

Once again, this nazi
Republican re-writes both reality and history. The Senator is ferociously
reminded both Democrats and Republicans weeks ago agreed on a plan only
to have the Trump nazi renege on a promise to sign it into law. The
Senator and his nazi fuhrer in the Oval Office, cannot, will not
be confused by the truth.

Galling coup de grace?
Epitome of delusion, reality, and best interests of our formerly great
country? Get this:

"I urge my Democratic
colleagues to respect the will of the American people and protect our country
from the threat of illegal immigration."

The majority of the public
does NOT want this wall. Consider it to be no more than a costly
financial boondoggle that will line the pockets of the corporate management
suite, doing little to nothing to end illegal immigration. Only Trump's
sick sycophants believe his bullshit and that of our psychotic Senator.

The following is highly
indicative of the Senator's penchant for talking out both sides the ass:

"On Wednesday, I delivered
remarks at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) outlining a conservative
foreign policy built on prioritizing the national security interests of
the United States. As a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations,
I believe we should generally be reluctant to intervene militarily and
risk the lives of our sons and daughters. But when we must intervene to
protect our national security, we must be fierce and resolute in defending
America and defeating our enemies."

Clearly, our national
socialist Senator wants it both ways. Seems to have forgotten the
last war our country absolutely had to fight was the Second World War.
Every goddamned undeclared war since could have been avoided. All
were fought to line the pockets of corporate war profiteers, not protect
national security.

Our national socialist
Senator is ferociously reminded even 9/11 and Afghanistan could have been
avoided had the State Department done full background checks on the 19
hijackers, heeded warnings of the flight schools the terrorists wished
to learn only how to fly straight and level, not take off and land.
Instead, gutless bastards in both major political parties determinedly
created a de facto fascist police-state vis a vis the USA 'Patriot' Act,
Homeland 'Security' Act, 'Real' ID Act, etc., all now transitioning to
the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

No foreign power, no terrorist
organization, not even the criminal element presents a greater threat to
life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties than all
branches and levels of government in our formerly great country.
Our leaders have betrayed us and their oaths of office to protect and defend
the United States Constitution. They're traitors. Gutless pieces
of human excrement.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

Never ends. Anti-Semitism
rears its ugly head. ... While both major political parties display
abject hypocrisy. NPR reports:

"One of the two first
Muslim women to serve in Congress has apologized for comments on social
media widely condemned as anti-Semitic. Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., said
she apologized "unequivocally" following a joint statement released by
House Democratic leaders calling on her to do so. "Anti-Semitism is real,"
Omar tweeted Monday afternoon, "and I am grateful for Jewish allies and
colleagues who are educating me on the painful history of anti-Semitic
tropes." She added, "We have to always be willing to step back and think
through criticism, just as I expect people to hear me when others attack
me for my identity. This is why I unequivocally apologize."

She received an enormous
amount of pressure from both parties. For totally different political
reasons. Hence, the hypocrisy.

"Omar questioned the financial
relationship between AIPAC, the powerful pro-Israel lobby, and members
of Congress in tweets over the weekend."

For damned good reason.

"In her apology, Omar
added that she still believes there is a "problematic role" for lobbyists,
whether it's AIPAC or the NRA."

Hard to believe the Congresswoman
did not know the 'Bemjamins baby'
slur was precisely that.

"The House leaders' statement,
led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., called the tweets "deeply offensive."

They are.

"We are and will always
be strong supporters of Israel in Congress because we understand that our
support is based on shared values and strategic interests. Legitimate criticism
of Israel's policies is protected by the values of free speech and democratic
debate that the United States and Israel share."

The above statement is
partially true. Worse, distortion of reality by Pelosi and those
who think like she does. She ignores the atrocities perpetrated by
the Israeli aggressor against the Palestinians over the decades.
So does her party. That's gutless. The gap between Israel and
the United States grows as the Israeli aggressor continues to subjugate
the Palestinians, steals their land. -- Land the Israelites lost generations
ago due to their excesses.

The United States, Europe,
and the United Nations had no business summarily bequeathing Palestine
to survivors of the Holocaust without consultation of the Palestinians.
Precisely, what happened in 1948. Leading to all the wars in the
region since, to say nothing of the birth of terrorism. This will
not change until all parties come to their senses. Find some
accommodation. Since the United States has not been an honest broker
of peace for decades, has unquestionably lost all credibility.

Pelosi, however is certainly
right about the following:

"But Congresswoman Omar's
use of anti-Semitic tropes and prejudicial accusations about Israel's supporters
is deeply offensive. We condemn these remarks and we call upon Congresswoman
Omar to immediately apologize for these hurtful comments."

The Congresswoman did
precisely that. Hopefully, she meant it.

Here's the hypocrisy,
however, of Republican national socialists, fascists, nazis:

"Meanwhile, Minority Leader
Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., said in a statement that the GOP will "take action
this week to ensure the House speaks out against this hatred and stands
with Israel and the Jewish people." McCarthy did not offer specifics, but
Republicans are considering options that include trying to force a vote
on a resolution led Rep. Lee Zeldin, R-N.Y., that condemns anti-Semitism
broadly and specifically calls out Omar. "We must speak out when any Member
— Democrat or Republican — uses harmful tropes and stereotypes, levels
accusations of dual loyalty, or makes reckless statements like those yesterday,"
the letter stated, a clear reference to Omar's tweets."

Your hypocrisy is stunning,
Congressman. Ferociously pointedly, where is your goddamned condemnation
of the Trump nazi, all his bigotry, racism, determined effort to defend
white nationalists since taking office two years ago? What's good
for the goose is not good for the gander, you achingly fascist son of a
bitch?

Our formerly great country
is no longer a democratic republic thanks to national socialists, fascists,
nazis in the Republican Party over the last six decades since the McCarthy
era. You pieces of human excrement are no longer 'conservatives.'
You're goddamned fascists in the mold of Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini.
Fascism,
nazism, national socialism defined as the pernicious blend of government,
business, and religion. 'Justified' by perversion and bastardization of
the latter.

In conclusion to the above, free speech is under
ferocious attack both here in the United States as well as in Israel.
Does not bode well for either country. Wake up. Before
too late.

In follow up to the above, height of hypocrisy?
Gall beyond compare? Unbridled Aryan arrogance unbecoming a U.S.
President? Get this. NPR reports:

"President Trump has called
on Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., to resign after she made comments on social
media that were criticized as "anti-Semitic" by lawmakers from both parties,
including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. "Anti-Semitism is real and I am grateful
for Jewish allies and colleagues who are educating me on the painful history
of anti-Semitic tropes," Omar said Monday. "This is why I unequivocally
apologize." She also said, "At the same time, I reaffirm the problematic
role of lobbyists in our politics, whether it be AIPAC, the NRA or the
fossil fuel industry." Trump described the apology as "lame," according
to The Associated Press. "Anti-Semitism has no place in the United States
Congress," Trump said Tuesday. "I think she should either resign from Congress
or she should certainly resign from the Foreign Affairs Committee."

Follow your own advice, Mr. 'President.'
Racism, bigotry, white nationalism, national socialism, fascism, nazism,
etc., have no place in the Oval Office. Ferociously pointedly, when
was the last time you apologized for anything, Mr. 'President?'

Omar has responded to the Trump nazi. The
Washington Post reports:

"Rep. Ilhan Omar rejected
President Trump’s call for her resignation by accusing him of having “trafficked
in hate your whole life” while she privately has tried to make amends with
her Jewish colleagues for her anti-Semitic comments. The Minnesota Democrat,
who fired back at Trump on Wednesday via Twitter, has faced a widespread
backlash for suggesting that Israel’s allies in U.S. politics were motivated
by money rather than principle. During a Cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump
said that “anti-Semitism has no place in the United States Congress,” called
an apology by Omar “lame” and said she should resign from Congress or give
up her seat on the House Foreign Affairs Committee.

"You have trafficked in
hate your whole life—against Jews, Muslims, Indigenous, immigrants, black
people and more. I learned from people impacted by my words. When will
you? https://t.co/EqqTyjkiNE

— Ilhan Omar (@IlhanMN)
February 13, 2019"

Indeed. Good question. Answer it,
Mr. 'President.'

"Omar, who has publicly
apologized, has been huddling with Jewish members of Congress to express
her regret, according to several Democrats. Prioritizing Jewish members
of the freshman class, Omar is lining up several face-to-face meetings
with lawmakers whom she alienated as she seeks to move past her comments.
Her outreach effort includes Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Eliot L.
Engel (D-N.Y.) and Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.).
She also has spoken to Bend the Arc and J Street, liberal Jewish groups,
as well as national Jewish leaders. In her district, she has been in touch
with local Jewish groups and is organizing a roundtable with Jewish constituents
next week to hear their concerns.

"Omar’s apology tour comes
as Democratic leaders have floated what amounts to an ultimatum to their
GOP colleagues eager to rebuke the lawmaker, one of two Muslim women in
the House. While Republicans said earlier this week that they may force
a vote in the full House against Omar — such as a privileged resolution
disapproving her actions — senior House Democrats have suggested they might
retaliate, putting Republicans in the equally awkward position of having
to reprimand one of their own, including their top leader. Under what would
amount to a mutually assured destruction scenario, House Democrats would
force Republicans to vote on censure of Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) for his
comments, including wondering why the term “white nationalist” is considered
offensive. While both parties adopted a resolution disapproving racist
comments in January, Democrats had held off on the more extreme censure
vote, in part out of concern that their Republican colleagues would turn
the tables. Democrats have also privately discussed the idea of repudiating
House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) for an election-time tweet
in which he suggested that wealthy Jewish donors were trying to “buy” the
midterm elections. McCarthy deleted the tweet. “What we have seen from
Republicans in the House is that truth does not matter and hypocrisy is
not a constraint to behavior,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Hakeem
Jeffries (N.Y.). “They should proceed with caution in this particular area,
given their history.”

"Amid the controversy,
Trump himself has come under scrutiny for comments he made to the Republican
Jewish Coalition as a presidential candidate in 2015. “You’re not going
to support me because I don’t want your money. ... But that’s okay. You
want to control your own politician,” Trump told the group at the time."

Goes on and on. What webs we weave.
Both major political parties.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

Attack on the Second Amendment,
sadly, tragically, continues unabated. This time, achingly hypocritically,
by one who has greatly financially profited from it. NPR reports:

"After his company's response
to the Parkland shooting, Dick's Sporting Goods CEO Ed Stack became an
unlikely corporate face of gun control. Almost nine months after the Parkland
shooting, Ed Stack — the CEO of Dick's Sporting Goods — stood up in the
audience of a New York Times conference. He got up to talk about restricting
gun sales at his stores. He had done it many times before, but this time,
he got personal. "I'm not embarrassed to say I'm viewed as a relatively
tough guy," Stack said. "I wouldn't characterize myself as a crier. And
that weekend, I watched those kids, and I watched those parents, and I
hadn't cried as much since my mother passed away."

While no one wants to
see the loss of anyone to gun violence least of all children, Mr. Stack
seems to have clearly forgotten there is a far greater principle here.
Forget? The Founders wisely understood the truly immeasurable value,
profoundest significance of the Second Amendment, that is, the last
best defense to corrupt, abusive, murderous, out of control government.

"His highly publicized
tougher stance on gun sales and outspoken push for reform turned the now-64-year-old
into an unlikely corporate face of gun control. To Wall Street, the company's
new gun policy wasn't out of line with its business interests. But to most
Americans, this was a staid, dependable athletics store suddenly plunging
into activism. One year after the Parkland, Fla., school shooting,
Stack's early lobbying efforts have proved difficult. But on a corporate
level, the company remains steadfast in its new gun sales policy. Dick's
no longer sells the type of semiautomatic rifle used in the shooting, which
is sometimes called assault-style or military-style. Dick's also no longer
sells any firearms to people under 21."

Yet, those under 21 can
enlist, carry a fully automatic weapon, and die for their country.
Clearly, Mr. Stack has lost himself.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

Wells Fargo at it again.
CBS News reports:

"Wells Fargo said some
customers experienced outages that impacted its ATMs and mobile and online
banking apps, and said it would reverse any fees that hit its customers
as a result. Although the bank said the issue was largely resolved on Thursday,
customers said they were still having problems accessing their accounts
on Friday, including their direct deposits."

Imagine that.

"On Thursday, the bank
said its ATM services had been restored and its mobile and online systems
were working, although not all features were restored. For instance, it
said consumer credit card and mortgage balance weren't yet working. The
company blamed a "contained issue" at one facility, and said it wasn't
a cybersecurity issue.

"We want our customers
to know that this is a contained issue affecting one of our facilities,
and not due to any cybersecurity event. We apologize for the inconvenience
caused by these system issues, and any Wells Fargo fees incurred as a result
of these issues will be reversed.

— Wells Fargo (@WellsFargo)
February 8, 2019

"Even so, customers on
Friday morning complained via Twitter about not receiving their direct
deposits, while others said they still couldn't access their accounts.
Some customers reported that their cards were declined while attempting
a purchase, and some said they couldn't pay their bills on time because
of the glitch."

Couldn't be, could it?

"Tim Knotts, a certified
financial planner, told CBS MoneyWatch he wasn't able to get onto his account
on Friday morning, and was worried because his employees were scheduled
to receive their salaries via direct deposit today. "I am concerned for
my employees," he said. "Just tried to log in again, but no luck ... for
the nation's 4th largest bank this is unacceptable!"

So what else is new?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

The following is clear
violation of the First Amendment Establishment Clause. NPR reports:

"Death Row inmate Domineque
Ray hoped that when he took his final breath, he could find comfort in
the presence of his Muslim spiritual adviser. But the Alabama prison where
Ray was awaiting execution wouldn't allow it. Prison officials would only
allow their own Christian chaplain to offer the prisoner solace from inside
the execution chamber. They said it would be a security risk to let someone
into the room who wasn't an employee of the state's corrections department.
Ray's imam, Yusef Maisonet, could only watch from the next room, behind
glass. Ray challenged that decision, and a federal appeals court on Wednesday
granted a stay of execution until it could determine whether the prison
had violated the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by preferring
one religion over another. But the next day, by a vote of 5-4, the U.S.
Supreme Court allowed the execution to go forward. Ray's life ended Thursday
night, by lethal injection. His imam watched from a separate room, The
Associated Press reported."

A Republican-owned national
socialist, fascist, nazi United States Supreme Court legislated its outrageously
perverse ideological and religious views from the bench.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-15-19

Will of the voters?
Means shit squat in Utah. NPR reports:

"Republican lawmaker Allen
Christensen is pushing a bill in the Utah Senate that would shrink the
Medicaid expansion his state's voters approved. "They are not obligated
to balance the budget," he argues. "We are."

"Utah residents may have
thought they were done fighting about Medicaid expansion last November.
But when Utah lawmakers opened a new legislative session in late January,
they began pushing through a bill to roll back the scope and impact of
an expansion that voters approved by in a ballot measure. "We voted for
this on Nov. 6. We were very clear about what we wanted," says Andrew Roberts,
a spokesman for Utah Decides, the group that organized the Medicaid expansion
referendum, known as Proposition 3. The voter-approved measure would extend
coverage to 150,000 uninsured people in the state."

"We are frustrated, and
I think Utahns are frustrated," Roberts says. He's so frustrated that his
group hired a billboard truck to drive in circles around the Capitol building
and through the snowy streets of Salt Lake City and its suburbs. Signs
on the sides of the truck flash phrases in LED lights, including "Support
democracy. Support Utah's vote." A looping video advertisement urges residents
to call lawmakers "who don't respect the will of the people."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Highly reminiscent
of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors,
Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black
who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they
please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.
It's appalling. Runs against the grain of everything our formerly
great country once stood for. No longer.

"Homeland Security agents
created a fake university in Michigan to attract foreign nationals who
wanted to use student status to extend U.S. visa privileges, according
to a federal indictment unsealed Wednesday. The University of Farmington
didn't have any professors or hold any classes — but that didn't matter
to "students" who used the sham school to stay in the U.S. illegally, the
government says. Officials say the university attracted recruiters who
were paid thousands of dollars for connecting students to the bogus school,
which had an actual office space in Farmington Hills, Mich. Eight alleged
recruiters are now under arrest, and dozens, if not hundreds, of people
who enrolled could face charges and/or deportation as part of an undercover
operation that began in 2015."

Think this crime would
have occurred had the government not facilitated it? Called entrapment.
Quite sophisticated at that:

"Posing as the university's
owners and staff, agents from Homeland Security Investigations worked with
the recruiters to gather false student records, including transcripts,
to deceive immigration authorities, according to the indictment. HSI operates
within U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The complex sting operation
resulted in the arrest of eight men who now face felony charges of conspiracy
to defraud the United States. They are Barath Kakireddy, Suresh Reddy Kandala,
Phanideep Karnati, Prem Kumar Rampeesa, Santosh Reddy Sama, Avinash Thakkallapally,
Naveen Prathipati and Aswanth Nune. "Six of them were arrested in metro
Detroit, one in Florida and another in Virginia," according to the Detroit
Free Press. A grand jury indicted the alleged recruiters on Jan. 15, but
those records remained sealed until Wednesday."

--Had to protect the entrapment
operation for as long as possible. LOL.

"From early 2017 to January
2019, the men "assisted at least 600 other foreign citizens to illegally
remain, re-enter and work in the United States, and actively recruited
them to enroll" at Farmington in a "pay to stay" scheme, the indictment
states. Many of the alleged recruiters visited the university's office
to collect payments for their efforts, according to the indictment, which
says they were paid sums ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 on each trip. "Because
of their recruiting success, this alliance collectively profited in excess
of quarter of a million dollars," the indictment states."

Had government not facilitated
the operation, truly believe anything on such a massive scale could have
occurred? Entrapment.

"The years-long operation
has raised questions of whether federal agents entrapped the students —
an idea that former prosecutor Peter Henning, a law professor at Wayne
State University, dismisses. "It's creative and it's not entrapment," Henning
tells The Detroit News. "The government can put out the bait, but it's
up to the defendants to fall for it."

Day is night, night is
day, and shit smells perversely sweet in a de facto fascist police-state,
-- quickly now transitioning to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. Wake
up, readers. This the kind of country you wish to live in?
A democratic republic in name only.

"Homeland Security's hoax
was multifaceted. The school's website was registered in 2016 by the fake
university and named a Dr. Ned Roberts as its administrative contact. Its
office sat along a leafy parkway in Farmington Hills — a sign in the parking
lot said the University of Farmington was on the second floor, next to
a realty company's office. On its contact page, the ersatz university told
potential applicants, "We'd love to hear from you." The Michigan operation
has echoes of a similar sting that resulted in dozens of arrests in 2016.
In that case, HSI agents created the University of Northern New Jersey
(UNNJ) out of whole cloth — and used it to indict 21 "brokers, recruiters,
and employers" from across the U.S., the Justice Department said. That
sting operation began in 2013."

Nazi America.
Adolf and Benito would have been proud.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Highly reminiscent
of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors,
Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black
who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they
please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.
It's appalling. Runs against the grain of everything our formerly
great country once stood for. No longer.

Who says we're not savages?
ABC News reports:

"11 detainees at an ICE
detention facility in El Paso, Texas, have been refusing food, some for
more than 30 days, and six of the detainees are being force-fed per orders
by a federal judge, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed
Thursday. An additional four other detainees are on a hunger strike at
ICE detention centers nationwide -- one each in the Miami, Phoenix, San
Diego and San Francisco areas -- bringing the number of detainees refusing
to eat to 15 nationwide, according to ICE. The Associated Press, the first
to report the hunger strike, said as many as 30 are striking, per interviews
with detainees, relatives and an attorney representing those on hunger
strike. The hunger strikers are from India and Cuba, the AP reported, and
some were so weak they can't stand up or talk. The detainees are on hunger
strike because of verbal abuse and deportation threats from detention facility
guards, as well as long detention periods prior to legal proceedings, according
to the AP."

Delusionally believe the
following doesn't amount to torture?

"The detainees are being
force-fed through nasal tubes and those undergoing the procedure "are having
persistent nosebleeds, and are vomiting several times a day," according
to Amrit Singh, the uncle of two men from India currently in ICE detention
who have been on hunger strike for about a month, the AP reported."

Coup de grace?
Epitome of unadulterated horse shit? Get this:

"ICE "fully respects the
rights of all people to voice their opinion without interference," the
agency said in a statement, and "does not retaliate in any way against
hunger strikers."

No, you just torture them
by force feeding against their will.

NPR reports:

"At least six immigrant
detainees on a hunger strike have been force-fed through nasal tubes by
immigration authorities, while nine other asylum-seekers are starving themselves,
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed on Thursday. Eleven
of the detainees refusing food, some for more than a month, are in custody
at the El Paso Processing Center. Four others are in ICE detentions centers
across the country: one each in Miami, Phoenix, San Diego and San Francisco.
Ruby Kaur, a lawyer for two of the detainees in Texas says her clients,
like the majority of those taking part in the hunger strike there, are
Indian immigrants who entered the U.S. through southern border more than
six months ago and turned themselves in to officials."

Here's the issue:

"They have tubes that
have been shoved through their noses and IV's giving them fluids. It's
extremely painful and it's against their will," Kaur told NPR, adding that
as recently as Thursday morning her clients told her in a phone conversation
that they are experiencing nasal and rectal bleeding and vomiting. They
began the hunger strike at the start of the new year to call attention
to what they say are inhumane conditions, repeated verbal threats of deportation
and debilitating angst created by a total absence of information about
their impending asylum cases. Kaur said that up until 10 days ago — about
the time a federal judge ordered the nasogastric intubation — both of her
clients and several others, were held in solitary confinement for two weeks
"to intimidate them" into ending the protest. "They want to get out and
be with their families. They want move forward with their legal cases,"
Kaur explained, adding that each of her clients have extended family living
in the U.S."

Someone's lying:

"According to the statement,
the ICE Health Services Corps is "medically monitoring the detainees' health
and regularly updating ICE of their medical status." Additionally, the
agency says officials have explained the negative health effects of not
eating to the detainees participating in the protest. But Kaur says that
is untrue. "My clients don't speak any English, and part of the reason
they are doing the hunger strike is that ICE has not provided them with
anyone who can speak Punjabi," she said.

"Since May 2015, the nonprofit
group has documented nearly 1,400 cases of individuals staging hunger strikes
in 18 detention centers nationwide. But Fialho said she is only aware of
one instance in which the court granted ICE officials at a detention facility
in Georgia the authority to force feed a man. However, in that case, the
individual ended his protest rather than be subjected to the nasogastric
procedure."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Republicans are beginning
to push back against their nazi fuhrer. NPR reports:

"Republicans have had
no shortage of foreign policy disagreements with President Trump, whose
presidential campaign ran diametrically opposed to many central tenets
of traditional GOP stances in international affairs."

No question.

"The GOP-controlled Senate
voted again to go on the record with more push-back on foreign policy —
this time on Syria. Led by Republican Majority Leader Mitch McConnell,
the Senate advanced a resolution 68-23 that warned against a "precipitous
withdrawal" from the Middle East nation. The measure was attached to a
broader Mideast policy bill that the Senate is still debating. The president
unexpectedly tweeted in December that the United States was withdrawing
its approximately 2,000 troops from Syria, against the advice of the Pentagon.

"We have won against ISIS,
we have beaten them, and we have beaten them badly," the president said
in December, via a video message on his preferred medium, Twitter. "And
now it's time for our troops to come back home."

"After historic victories
against ISIS, it’s time to bring our great young people home! pic.twitter.com/xoNjFzQFTp

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
December 19, 2018"

Didn't sit well in the
State Department and elsewhere:

"That sudden declaration
of a withdrawal from Syria — and Trump's claim of victory over ISIS — was
news to American diplomats, military officers and lawmakers, who raised
concerns that ISIS had not yet been defeated, and that the withdrawal would
leave American allies in the lurch. Brett McGurk, the special presidential
envoy for the global coalition to counter ISIS, and Secretary of Defense
Jim Mattis both resigned shortly following Trump's announcement, protesting
the sudden change in policy."

Imagine that. Far
more should have had the guts to have done the same.

"McConnell's resolution
urges the Trump administration to conduct a thorough review of its strategy
in Syria, including an assessment of the risks of withdrawal; and calls
upon the administration to certify the enduring defeat of al-Qaeda and
ISIS before any significant withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria or Afghanistan.
"ISIS and Al Qaeda have yet to be defeated. And American national security
interests require continued commitment to our missions," McConnell said
on the Senate floor."

Not the only issue, however:

"The vote on Syria is
not the only example of Republican dissent regarding the administration's
policies. GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Rep. Ken Buck of Colorado are helping
lead an effort in both chambers on Capitol Hill to prevent the president
from aiding to the Saudi-led intervention in Yemen. There is bipartisan
support for legislation that would direct the president to remove U.S.
armed forces from the conflict in Yemen — the Senate voted 56-41 to end
American military support to the Saudi-led coalition back in December.

"On issues like NATO,
on the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, on Russia sanctions,
on North Korea — Republican lawmakers have repeatedly stood up to the president
on his national security policy."

Trump's not fit for office.
Republicans can longer ignore the truth.

NBC News reports:

"Congress is sending President
Donald Trump a strong message of discontent with his foreign policy in
a number of critical areas, a growing rebuke that increasingly includes
members of Trump’s own Republican Party. On Afghanistan and Syria, the
GOP-run Senate has issued a stern warning against the president’s plans
to withdraw troops. Lawmakers in the House and Senate are questioning Trump’s
diplomacy with North Korea, his easing of sanctions on a Russian oligarch
and even his intent to stay involved in Yemen’s civil war. And his threats
to pull out of NATO are causing consternation on Capitol Hill. The bipartisan
rebuke has left the president increasingly standing alone on consequential
issues of international affairs. He is seeing pushback from every corner
of the ideological spectrum and across both parties. In the latest reproach,
the Senate Thursday overwhelmingly passed an amendment that disapproves
of the sudden withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and Syria. Forty-three
Republicans backed the measure."

Just the beginning.
Think support won't further erode as the insanity continues, worsens?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Think the above is all?
Pressure increases. Get this. The Washington Post reports:

"Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell cautioned President Trump privately this week about the
consequences of declaring a national emergency to build his border wall,
telling him the move could trigger political blowback and divide the GOP,
according to two Republicans with knowledge of the exchange. McConnell
(R-Ky.) told Trump that Congress might end up passing a resolution disapproving
the emergency declaration, the people said — which would force the president
to contemplate issuing his first veto ever, in the face of opposition from
his own party."

Stunning, isn't it?

"McConnell delivered the
message during a face-to-face meeting with the president Tuesday at the
White House, according to the Republicans, who requested anonymity to describe
the encounter. The two men met alone and conversed with no aides present.
Their meeting was not publicly announced."

The Majority Leader and
others in the GOP need to rein in their nazi fuhrer. This
insane fascist son of a bitch remains an exigent threat to life, liberty,
all civil and constitutional rights and liberties. Republicans need
to wake up.

"The majority leader’s
comments to the president came amid rising GOP concerns over the fallout
if Trump were to declare a national emergency that would allow him to circumvent
Congress and use the military to build new stretches of wall along the
U.S.-Mexico border. Trump increasingly appears prepared to take that route,
saying Friday that “I think there’s a good chance we’ll have to do that.”

Rein him in. The
public remains opposed to a wall that can be gone over, under, or through.
Total waste of taxpayer money.

"Trump teased the possibility
of making a definitive statement on the topic during his State of the Union
address, telling reporters to watch the Tuesday speech closely. “I think
you’ll find it very exciting,” the president said."

This man is hopelessly
psychotic, achingly divorced from reality.

"And Trump again dismissed
chances that he’ll get the $5.7 billion in wall funding he wants from a
bipartisan congressional committee charged with producing a border security
solution that could forestall another government shutdown. The committee
is working to come up with a deal that could pass before Feb. 15, when
a stopgap spending bill will expire if there is no action by Congress and
Trump."

Why would they do this?
The public is opposed to this needless waste.

"If the measure expires
with no agreement, large portions of the federal government that reopened
Jan. 25 after a record-long funding lapse would shut down again."

Trump will again be blamed.
So will Republicans for failing to rein him in.

“We will be looking at
a national emergency because I don’t think anything’s going to happen,”
Trump told reporters at the White House. “I don’t think Democrats want
border security.”

Proof positive Trump is
delusional. His statement is demonstrably false. Republicans
and Democrats had already, earlier secured a deal on border security when
Trump changed his mind. -- Security that would have included some
strengthening of existing barriers, expansion of electronic security,
as well as more agents. Trump then petulantly opposed it, continues
to lie.

"The prospect of Trump’s
using a national emergency declaration to build his wall has divided Republicans,
with a number of them expressing concerns about the precedent that such
a move would set."

No kidding. Clearly,
an abuse of Executive power that would immediately be challenged in the
courts. -- Think Democrats wouldn't use it as a precedent to do precisely
the same in the future vis a vis one of their pet projects, and/or ideological
goals?

"Sen. John Cornyn (R-Tex.),
a top McConnell confidant, said this week that he opposes an emergency
declaration, in part because of what it might embolden a future Democratic
president to do."

You think?
Nearly, guarantied. Forget? Democrats are no better than Republicans,
-- just different in ideology and goals.

“We’ve certainly tried
to communicate that to him,” said Cornyn, referring to Trump. “And so,
he understands our concerns as we’ve expressed them. But I don’t know if
he shares those same concerns.”

Why would he? How
could he? Why should he? Forget? He's delusional.
Unfit for office. Yet, you clueless sons of bitches continue to support
him and his insanity.

"Lawmakers of both parties
expect that a national emergency declaration would be immediately challenged
in court and would end up languishing in legal proceedings without producing
quick action on the border wall that Trump long vowed Mexico would fund."

No question. Likely,
end result. Republicans would immediately suffer the consequences.

"And a growing concern
for Republicans — which McConnell voiced to Trump at the White House —
is that they would be forced to vote on a disapproval resolution aimed
at overturning the declaration, and that the resolution would pass."

Enlightened self-interest
on the part of Republicans would likely quickly occur, -- as it did decades
ago when faced with the Nixon debacle.

"A disapproval resolution
on a presidential emergency declaration is rare, so exactly how the process
would play out is uncertain. But it could expose new rifts within the GOP
on Trump’s signature issue of a border wall, creating a portrait of disunity
that most Republicans would like to avoid. An emergency declaration would
also risk further political damage to Trump, whose disapproval rating rose
significantly over the 35-day partial government shutdown as more Americans
faulted the president than Democrats for the standoff. While Trump stood
on weak political ground demanding a wall that most Americans continue
to oppose, an even larger majority opposes Trump’s declaring a national
emergency to build it."

Presents quite a dilemma
for Republicans who fear standing up to their fuhrer. Here's
the issue:

"A Washington Post-ABC
News poll during the shutdown found that 66 percent of Americans opposed
Trump’s using emergency powers to build the wall without Congress’ approval,
12 percentage points higher than opposition to the wall in general. Seven
in 10 independents and about 9 in 10 Democrats opposed an emergency declaration
to build a wall. Trump is lodged between the political middle and his own
base, which has embraced his demand for a border wall. While Republican
support for using emergency powers to build a wall was 20 points lower
than for the wall overall, 67 percent of Republicans favored Trump’s taking
emergency action, including a majority who supported this “strongly.”

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Appeals courts continue
to nazify. The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump has installed
a historic number of federal appeals court judges for this point of a presidency.
But the immediate effect on the composition of the courts across the country
is modest — and the rapid pace is unlikely to continue because of a limited
number of remaining open seats. The Senate confirmation of Trump’s 30 appeals
court judges is more than any other president’s two years into a term.
His picks for the nation’s 13 circuit courts, one step below the Supreme
Court, predominantly are male and less diverse than those tapped by his
predecessor. They also include younger nominees, including a 36-year-old
former clerk to Justices Clarence Thomas and Neil M. Gorsuch, which means
Trump’s conservative imprint on the federal judiciary will endure through
cases involving state gun regulations, the environment, immigration and
abortion."

The damage is long-term.
Those nominated and confirmed happen to be Republican national socialists
determined to legislate their national socialist, fascist, nazi ideological
and religious views from the bench. This presents an exigent threat
to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties as
our formerly great country continues to deteriorate from a democratic republic,
to a de facto fascist police-state, to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Think Trump's not off
his rocker? Think the military doesn't know it? ABC News reports:

"The top U.S. general
in the Middle East says the U.S. military's mission in Iraq is still focused
on defeating ISIS, and has not shifted to "watching" Iran as President
Donald Trump said in an interview this past weekend. Gen. Joseph Votel,
the commander of U.S. Central Command, also told the Senate Armed Services
Committee that he was "not consulted" by Trump before the president announced
in mid-December that he was ordering the withdrawal of all U.S. troops
in Syria, claiming ISIS there had been "defeated." Asked if the U.S. military
in Iraq will shift its focus to "watching" Iran as Trump first brought
up in a CBS interview on Sunday, Votel replied "It has not." Trump's comments
have angered Iraqi politicians, some of whom have called for U.S. troops
to leave the country. "I think the government of Iraq understands the relationship,
the view that we have on Iran and understands our concerns with Iran and
the variety of destabilizing activities that they carry out around the
region," Votel added. "But having said that, our military mission on the
ground remains on the reason that the government of Iraq and that is focusing
on the defeat of ISIS and now preventing a resurgence of that particular
organization," he said."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Noose figuratively tightens.
The
Washington Post reports:

"Federal prosecutors in
New York on Monday delivered a sweeping request for documents related to
donations and spending by President Trump’s inaugural committee, a sign
of a deepening criminal investigation into activities related to the nonprofit
organization."

What took so long?
Forget? Been two years.

"A wide-ranging subpoena
served on the inaugural committee Monday seeks an array of documents, including
all information related to inaugural donors, vendors, contractors, bank
accounts of the inaugural committee and any information related to foreign
contributors to the committee, according to a copy reviewed by The Washington
Post. Only U.S. citizens and legal residents can legally donate to a committee
established to finance presidential inaugural festivities."

Damn good reason for that.
Don't want the president to be bought and paid for by a foreign power,
do we?

“We have just received
a subpoena for documents. While we are still reviewing the subpoena, it
is our intention to cooperate with the inquiry,” a spokesman for the committee
said in a statement."

Have no choice, other
than challenge it in court.

"The subpoena — issued
by the U.S. attorney’s office in the Southern District of New York — indicates
that prosecutors are investigating crimes related to conspiracy to defraud
the United States, mail fraud, false statements, wire fraud and money laundering."

Couldn't be, could it?
LOL. Goes on and on. Be interesting to see where this all goes,
-- if anywhere. Forget? Our formerly great country remains
a democratic republic in name only.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Think Trump's conservative
with tax dollars? ABC News reports:

"President Donald Trump's
four trips to his Mar-a-Lago club in Florida over four weeks in March and
February
2017, including his summit with the Japanese prime minister, cost the government
nearly $14 million, according to the results of a nonpartisan government
watchdog's investigation obtained by ABC News. The accounting, which reveals
that the government also paid roughly $600,000 to Trump's Palm Beach property,
provides one of the clearest pictures to date of the costs incurred by
the government for the president's travel to his properties. The report,
from the Government Accountability Office, a nonpartisan watchdog that
works as an investigative arm of Congress, also found that the U.S. Secret
Service spent $396,000 protecting the president’s sons, Donald Trump Jr.
and Eric Trump, on three international trips in early 2017."

Report goes on and on.
Above, no more than tip of the iceberg. Wake up.

The Washington Post
reports:

"One of the ongoing questions
about the administration of President Trump has an answer — at least, in
part. Since his first month in office, with his first weekend forays to
his private retreat in Florida — Mar-a-Lago — questions have been raised
about the cost of those trips. This isn’t simple to figure out, given that
the total includes costs incurred by various government agencies as well
as costs associated with Trump’s Secret Service protection. Although estimates
of the cost existed, it would require a great deal of information from
across the government to come up with an accurate total. The Government
Accountability Office gathered that information. On Tuesday, it released
a report looking only at Trump’s first four trips to Mar-a-Lago as president:
on Feb. 3-6; Feb. 10-12; Feb. 17-20; and March 3-5, 2017. The total? Just
under $14 million, for an average cost of $3.4 million per trip. That includes
about $8.5 million spent by the Defense Department and $5 million by the
Department of Homeland Security. It also includes about $60,000 paid directly
to Mar-a-Lago itself, $24,000 of which was for lodging for Defense Department
personnel and $36,000 for operational space used by DHS. The immediate
question, of course, is how those costs extrapolate to all of Trump’s visits.
This invariably leads to some apples-oranges problems, but we can make
some reasonable estimates. We know, from having tracked his trips over
time, that Trump has visited Mar-a-Lago on 19 occasions as president, spanning
51 nights."

The 'President's' sorry
ass belongs in the White House, -- not vacationing at Mar-a-Lago lining
the pockets of his goddamned business at taxpayer expense.

"Some of those trips,
as shown above, were longer than others. The GAO report notes, however,
that much of the costs of the trips were incurred by the air travel to
and from Palm Beach, including transporting people and material needed
to support the president while there. (About $7.4 million of the total
was spent by the Air Mobility Command and 89th Air Wing.) If we, therefore,
assume a blanket average of $3.4 million per trip, regardless of duration,
the total the government has spent on Trump’s trips to the resort tops
$64 million. We can probably assume that the money spent at Mar-a-Lago
itself was incurred on a nightly basis, given that it deals with hotel
rooms and operational space. If that’s the case, the government probably
has spent nearly $370,000 at Mar-a-Lago itself to protect the president
since Trump was inaugurated."

Report goes on and on.
One thing for Trump to travel on government business, -- another for the
fascist son of a bitch to be partying at his businesses, lining those businesses
with taxpayer money.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

More nazi justice slated
for the judiciary. The Washington Post reports:

"Senators in both parties
Tuesday pressed Neomi Rao — President Trump’s nominee to replace Brett
M. Kavanaugh on the federal appeals court in Washington — about her past
controversial writings, including about victims of date rape. Rao, an advocate
for broad presidential power, spent more than a decade as a law professor
before she joined the Trump administration in 2017 as the White House’s
regulatory czar. Rao, 45, faces opposition from civil rights groups and
Democratic senators concerned about her work to roll back government regulations
and about provocative columns she wrote as a college student. She also
encountered resistance Tuesday from Republican Sen. Joni Ernst of Iowa
who recently disclosed she was sexually assaulted while in college. Rao’s
writings from the 1990s on date rape “do give me pause,” Ernst said during
the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing. The senator said she is concerned
about the message Rao’s columns send to young women “about who is to blame”
and has not decided whether to back Rao’s nomination. “I really want to
know more,” Ernst said in an interview."

Vote for this piece of
human excrement who has effectively made excuses for date rape? You're
hopelessly unqualified to be a United States Senator.

Report goes on and on.
Republican national socialists are desperately trying to ramrod through
achingly unfit fascists. Nazis who will determinedly legislate their
outrageously perverse ideological and religious views from the bench.

NBC News reports:

"Nominated by President
Donald Trump to replace Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh on the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, Rao was grilled about her
views on gender parity and sexual assault as expressed in articles she
wrote in college. Democrats have focused on those writings in their opposition
to confirming her to one of the most powerful courts in the country, one
that can be a springboard to the Supreme Court. Rao, 45, attended Yale
University and often wrote about date rape, sexual assault and the responsibility
of those involved. At times, she placed the onus on women to “accept responsibility.”
She was asked repeatedly about one article in the Yale Herald, headlined,
“Shades of Gray,” in which she posited that sexual assaults at college
parties might be avoided if women didn’t drink too much. She wrote that
“a good way to avoid a potential date rape is to stay reasonably sober.”
Two dozen activists showed up at the hearing room Tuesday in protest, wearing
T-shirts emblazoned with that quote. Rao insisted on Tuesday that “no one
should blame a victim” of sexual assault, but she also said some of what
she wrote amounted to “common sense observations” that would make women
less likely to be a victim of assault."

Jesus Christ.

"Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa,
who is a victim of rape and sexual assault, said that some of Rao’s college
writings give her “pause.” “I’m not going to mince words,” Ernst said,
who is one of two women appointed to the Judiciary Committee in the new
Congress after having no GOP women on the committee in the last. “I’ve
had a chance to review a number of writings while you were in college,
and they do give me pause, not just from my personal experience, but regarding
a message we are sending young women everywhere.” In another, titled “The
Feminist Dilemma” for the Yale Free Press, Rao wrote, “just as women want
to control their education and then choose their career, similarly, they
must learn to understand and accept responsibility for their sexuality.”
In the same article she wrote that anti-feminism academic Camille Paglia
"accurately describes the dangerous feminist idealism which teaches women
that they are equal.” Ernst asked Rao if she doesn’t think women are equal.
“I very much regret that statement,” Rao said. “I’m honestly not sure why
I wrote that in college.” Ernst said she wants “to have further conversations”
with Rao on these topics."

Trump and his henchmen
are truly scraping the bottom of the barrel, desperate to confirm national
socialist, fascists who will determinedly legislate their outrageously
perverse ideological and religious views from the bench. Like Trump,
these bona fide nazis pose an existential threat to life, liberty, all
civil and constitutional rights and liberties.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Once again, Trump has
disgraced himself in front of Congress and the rest of the nation. The
Washington Post reports:

"President Trump confronted
a split Congress for the first time Tuesday night by delivering a dissonant
State of the Union address, interspersing uplifting paeans to bipartisan
compromise with chilling depictions of murder and ruin."

Certainly true, but bit
of an understatement. LOL.

"Calling the situation
at the U.S.-Mexico border “an urgent national crisis,” Trump again called
on Congress to approve construction of his long-promised wall — and argued
that without the physical barrier, working-class Americans would lose their
jobs and grapple with dangerous crime and overcrowded schools and hospitals."

"Trump also sounded an
unmistakable threat to the new Democratic House majority over impending
oversight investigations into his conduct and personal finances, as well
as alleged corruption in the administration. The president warned that
everyday Americans may suffer from what he termed “ridiculous” probes."

Trump and his henchmen
are under investigation for damned good reason. Mueller has already
nailed a number of his underlings who have either pled guilty or were convicted.

“An economic miracle is
taking place in the United States — and the only thing that can stop it
are foolish wars, politics or ridiculous partisan investigations,” Trump
said. “If there is going to be peace and legislation, there cannot be war
and investigation.”

That's insane rhetoric
highly indicative of the increasing likelihood the Trump nazi is soiling
his pants.

"As he delivered his speech
from the rostrum of the House chamber, with a stone-faced Speaker Nancy
Pelosi (D-Calif.) observing over his left shoulder, Trump stared into a
sea of Democratic women wearing bright white in tribute to suffragists
who secured women’s right to vote. Together, they formed a vivid illustration
of this year’s power shift and the potential political peril for Trump’s
presidency."

While Democrats and Pelosi
have more than their share of issues, there is no one else to stand up
to this insane nazi in the Oval Office.

"The tension in the chamber
was palpable. As Trump declared the state of the union to be “strong,”
the women in white stayed seated while Republican lawmakers, most of them
men in dark suits, stood to cheer."

Republicans have lost
themselves somewhere along the way. Are no longer 'conservatives.'
Have clearly, repeatedly embraced national socialism, fascism, nazism.

"Rare moments of joint
applause came when Trump touted the bipartisan criminal justice law he
signed in December, vowed to fight childhood cancer and committed to eliminating
HIV in 10 years."

Trump only offered the
above in the speech because he knows he's indeed losing the argument as
his poll numbers head south.

"Trump began and ended
his 82-minute speech with a unifying tone that was in conflict with many
of his own actions and statements, especially over the past month, one
of the more contentious of his presidency."

"A president who proudly
retaliates against his enemies, taunts his political foes with nicknames
and considers himself one of the world’s great counter-punchers exhorted
Congress to “reject the politics of revenge, resistance and retribution
and embrace the boundless potential of cooperation, compromise and the
common good.”

Abject hypocrisy.
Desperation. Proof positive.

"Trump added: “We must
choose between greatness or gridlock, results or resistance, vision or
vengeance, incredible progress or pointless destruction. Tonight, I ask
you to choose greatness.”

More insane rhetoric from
an increasingly desperate nazi.

"Trump called for unity.
Here’s how that went over with Congress. Just eight hours earlier, Trump
trashed Democrats — as well as the late Republican senator John McCain
— at a freewheeling lunch with television news anchors. He assailed Senate
Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) as a “nasty son of a bitch,”
ridiculed former vice president Joe Biden as “dumb” for his history of
gaffes, and accused Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam (D) of “choking like a
dog” at a news conference where he denied being in a racist photo on his
medical school yearbook page, according to two attendees and a person briefed
on the discussion."

Imagine that.

The Washington Post
reports:

"Former Georgia gubernatorial
candidate Stacey Abrams said President Trump had “abandoned not just our
people but our values.” Sen. Kamala D. Harris, a presidential candidate,
dismissed his “insecure appeals to unity.” And House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
offered her criticism with exasperated looks and pointed applause behind
the president’s back."

Did they ever. LOL.

"Emboldened by Trump’s
poor polling and the coming presidential campaign, Democrats firmly rejected
his call for a bipartisan reset in his State of the Union address Tuesday,
responding with fierce criticism and a dramatically different vision for
the country. The Democratic response, at times stoic and at others defiant,
amounted to a statement of strength by a party that recently took back
control of the House and forced Trump to back down during a 35-day partial
government shutdown he had hoped would pressure Congress to fund a new
wall on the southern border. Even before Trump began speaking, Democrats
had started offering their rebuttal. The party warned in a Tuesday afternoon
tweet that the president’s speech would “be filled with blatant lies and
broken promises.” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) predicted
Trump was going to just take his annual break from “364 days of the year
dividing us and sowing a state of disunion.”

Certainly, came to pass.
LOL.

"It was a marked contrast
in tone to Trump’s. He delivered a speech that offered few new policies
or routes to compromise but nonetheless repeatedly called on Democrats
to work with him. They rejected those appeals. “The shutdown was a stunt
engineered by the president of the United States, one that defied every
tenet of fairness and abandoned not just our people but our values,” said
Abrams, the former Georgia state House minority leader who delivered the
official Democratic response. “We know bipartisanship could craft a 21st-century
immigration plan, but this administration chooses to cage children and
tear families apart.”

Goes on and on, but you
get the point. Neither party is worth a shit. ... So what else
is new? LOL.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Think Trump has any
respect for the military and those who serve? NPR reports:

"A federal judge in Seattle
has ordered the Defense Department to stop discriminating against naturalized
citizens who volunteered to serve in the U.S. Army under a program to attract
certain immigrants with specialized skills. U.S. District Judge Thomas
Zilly ruled Thursday that the Pentagon may not require soldiers who are
naturalized citizens to undergo "continuous monitoring," or security checks
every two years, when such scrutiny is not applied to U.S.-born soldiers."

Discrimination.
Outrageous. Un-American. Right Wing nazi.

"The plaintiffs are 17
naturalized citizens who enlisted through the Military Accessions Vital
to the National Interest (MAVNI) program. Begun in 2009, the program recruits
immigrants with critical foreign language or medical skills in exchange
for a fast track to citizenship. More than 10,000 soldiers have served
in the U.S. military through the MAVNI program. The program was frozen
in 2016 due to security concerns. The Defense Department "has provided
no explanation for engaging in flagrant profiling, i.e., equating MAVNI
status with national security risk, rather than justifying on a case-by-case
basis the heightened monitoring or screening that the DoD wishes to conduct,"
Zilly wrote in a 32-page ruling that followed five days of testimony in
November 2018.

"Judge Zilly noted in
his ruling that the "defendant's witnesses acknowledged that no MAVNI soldier
who has become a naturalized citizen has ever been charged or convicted
of espionage or any other criminal offense or been denaturalized."

Imagine that. Couldn't
be, could it? What the hell is the nazi element so afraid of?
Immigrants willing to courageously serve in the United States military?
... Or, is it no more than blatant bigotry Adolf and Benito would have
been proud of?

"In July 2018, the Pentagon
began discharging immigrants recruited under the MAVNI program, only to
reverse that policy a month later."

Whiplash.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Think Trump and his henchmen
have any respect for labor? Consider labor anything more than corporate-owned
human chattel? NBC News reports:

"The federal watchdog
for the Department of Labor is conducting a broad investigation into the
Trump administration's process for making regulatory changes, following
allegations that officials are undoing worker protections without following
the proper procedures, according to a letter obtained by NBC News. The
investigation will include the Labor Department’s effort to undo a child
labor regulation affecting teenagers who work in hospitals and nursing
homes, according to the Jan. 25 letter by the department's inspector general,
Scott Dahl."

Not the only issue:

"Dahl is already investigating
the Labor Department's handling of a proposal to allow restaurant managers
and owners to take workers’ tips and place them in a tip-sharing pool that
includes bosses. Bloomberg Law reported last year that the administration
hid its own projection that the change would allow management to skim $640
million in gratuities. (The administration later backed off the change.)"

Legalized theft.
LOL.

"The Labor Department
is facing legal challenges over other deregulatory actions affecting workers.
Last week, the department undid an Obama-era regulation requiring certain
employers to submit detailed reports of workplace injuries electronically,
arguing that it risked violating workers' privacy. Last year, the department
made it easier for small businesses and self-employed people to buy health
insurance that does not comply with the Affordable Care Act. Both changes
have spurred lawsuits alleging that officials failed to follow legally
required procedures for rule-making."

Anything to line the pockets
at the top of the food chain. F--k the peasants, right, Mr.
'President?'

"Deborah Berkowitz, program
director for worker health and safety for the National Employment Law Project,
says the administration's approach toward the child-labor rule reflects
a broader problem. "This is not a one-off situation — this is how they
are conducting rollbacks of really important worker protections, and doing
it with misleading information at best," said Berkowitz, a former Labor
Department official under President Barack Obama. "There’s clearly a pattern
of the Department of Labor hiding information that is inconvenient and
does not support the department’s position, in violation of well-known
and established laws."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

In follow up to a recent
edition, NBC News reports:

"A White House security
specialist has been suspended without pay for defying her supervisor Carl
Kline, less than a week after NBC News reported Kline approved Jared Kushner
for top secret clearance over the objections of career staff. The specialist,
Tricia Newbold, had filed a discrimination complaint against Kline three
months ago. Newbold's two-week suspension from the White House security
office was for failure to supervise, failure to follow instructions and
defiance of authority, according to the suspension decision notice obtained
by NBC News. Security office chief Crede Bailey first proposed the suspension
on Dec. 3, 2018. Wednesday's notice is signed by Bailey and mentions that
in Newbold's 18-year career she has not faced any "prior formal disciplinary
action." The document also harshly criticizes Newbold for her "defiance"
and notes that Newbold said she would "continue to do what is best for
the Executive Office of the President." In the notice, the chief security
officer denies that the suspension has anything to do with Newbold's Equal
Employment Opportunity Commission complaint. Newbold's lawyer, Ed Passman,
considers her a whistleblower and said he believes the administrative charges
were brought as payback for her decision to file the complaint against
Kline. "It's clearly reprisal for her whistleblowing," Passman said. "[It]
has no basis in merit whatsoever."

Nothing ever truly changes,
does it?

"On Thursday, two House
Democrats wrote White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney asking that Kushner's
security clearance be revoked immediately. Reps. Don Beyer of Virginia
and Ted Lieu of California said in their letter that in addition to Kushner,
the White House has ignored similar questions about Ivanka Trump's security
clearance despite her involvement in a Trump Tower Moscow project."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Net Neutrality revisited.
NPR reports:

"The Internet once again
finds itself in court today, as the Federal Communications Commission defends
its decision to repeal net neutrality rules put in place by the Obama administration.
Obama's FCC had imposed a strict set of regulations on Internet providers,
to ensure they wouldn't be able to prioritize certain websites and apps
over others. Trump's FCC repealed those rules, preferring a more hands-off
approach that would let internet companies charge websites for faster access
to customers. Several consumer groups, technology companies and Democratic-led
states challenged the FCC's decision."

Anything to line the pockets
at the top of the food chain. F--k the peasants, right, Mr.
'President?'

"The Verge calls today's
challenge at the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals "one of the most important
cases in internet law history." Democratic FCC Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel
says the decision to roll back net neutrality put the agency "on the wrong
side of history, wrong side of the law and wrong side of the American people."
More than 20 million public comments were filed with the FCC — most of
them arguing against repealing the rules — though many of those were later
discovered to be fake, NPR reported."

That right?

"In 2015, Obama's FCC
passed net neutrality rules on a party line vote of 3-2. "No one — whether
government or corporate — should control free open access to the internet,"
then Chairman Tom Wheeler said at the time, NPR reported. But when Donald
Trump became president, the political balance of the communications agency
changed. The FCC "has officially begun to undo Obama-era regulations on
Internet service providers," NPR's Alina Selyukh reported in 2017. The
Republican-controlled FCC says net neutrality rules were never needed."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Trump and his henchmen
again f--k those on the bottom of the food chain. The Washington
Post reports:

"The Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau on Wednesday proposed significantly weakening Obama-era
rules governing payday lenders, boosting the fortunes of an industry accused
of keeping low-income borrowers trapped in a cycle of debt. Under the existing
rule, set to take effect in August, payday lenders are required to take
several steps to ensure borrowers can afford the loans they are being offered.
The proposals would rescind that requirement and delay the rule’s implementation
until 2020. The move is a big win for payday lenders. The industry feared
the new regulations would force many of them to close their doors. Payday
lenders aggressively lobbied lawmakers to block the rule last year and
when that failed turned their attention to convincing the CFPB, now under
the leadership of a Trump appointee, to change course. “The Bureau will
evaluate the comments, weigh the evidence, and then make its decision,”
Kathy Kraninger, who became bureau director in December, said in a statement."

An orchestrated f--king
courtesy of the Trump nazi and his henchmen.

NPR reports:

"The Consumer Financial
Protection Bureau is targeting one of the hallmarks of the Obama administration:
a rule that would protect the most vulnerable against the ballooning debt
that can accrue with payday loans. The rule never actually took effect.
And now the consumer bureau is proposing to take it off the table. The
agency's chief Kathy Kraninger said in a statement that pulling back the
rule would encourage competition in the payday lending industry and help
improve credit options for borrowers in need. Critics say the consumer
bureau is siding with the very industry it is supposed to regulate and
scrapping a rule that would have protected borrowers from skyrocketing
interest rates."

Here's the problem:

"The way payday loans
work is that payday lenders typically offer small dollar loans to borrowers
who promise to pay it back by their next paycheck. Interest on the loans
can have an annual percentage rate of 390 percent or more, according to
a 2013 report by the CFPB. Another bureau report from the following year
found that most payday loans — as many as 80 percent — are rolled over
into another loan within two weeks. Borrowers often take out as many as
eight or more loans a year."

Unbridled greed.
Legalized theft.

"A rule cracking down
on payday loans was first proposed in 2016. President Obama touted the
rule as the end of predatory lending. He warned payday lenders in a speech:
"If you're making that profit by trapping hard-working Americans into a
vicious cycle of debt, you've got to find a new business model." The rule
would have required lenders to determine whether customers could pay off
their loans. It would also limit payday lenders to only two attempts to
withdraw money from borrowers' accounts, a move designed to target the
fees that payday lenders charge. Under the Trump administration, the consumer
bureau reversed course. The rule was supposed to kick in back in January
2018 — but it never did. Instead, then-CFPB Director Mick Mulvaney delayed
the rule."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Amazing how the military
sometimes turns on its own. The Washington Post reports:

"A Marine veteran who
fought the Pentagon for 12 years over a war-crimes case brought against
him and six others will have his permanent record wiped clean, an extraordinary
affirmation of his claim that their reputations were destroyed by the military’s
effort to imprison the men. The Marines were members of an elite commando
force expelled from Afghanistan in 2007 amid unproven allegations that
they massacred innocent bystanders in the frantic minutes following an
ambush. They were cleared of wrongdoing more than a year later, after the
case was heard by a military court, but have maintained that senior leaders
did little to set the record straight and, consequently, fostered the stigma
that has dogged them ever since."

How does this happen?
How does it go on as long as it has?

"A report approved in
January by the Navy Department is a major victory for retired Maj. Fred
Galvin, the Marines’ commanding officer. Its conclusions, he says, are
a rebuke of those who condemned his men before the facts were clear, the
investigator whose work was shown in court to be sloppy and the generals
who refused Galvin’s pleas for public absolution."

Why would they do this?
Makes no sense. What was their true agenda?

"In its ruling, the Board
for Correction of Naval Records said Galvin, 49, should be considered for
a retroactive promotion. If granted, he would be entitled to hundreds of
thousands of dollars in back salary and future government pension benefits,
as he was forced to retire in 2014 after his superiors relied on “inequitable
and unjust” performance appraisals, the report states, to prevent him from
advancing in rank. Of the seven swept up in the case, Galvin is the only
one to pursue such vindication. More broadly, the board’s determination
closes one of the Afghanistan war’s darkest chapters, an episode that unleashed
international outrage only to be proved a fabrication engineered by the
Taliban to fuel distrust of the U.S. military. Those involved fought for
their lives that day only to be denounced by senior officers who had an
obligation to protect their presumption of innocence."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Some semblance of justice.
NPR reports:

"A U.S. court has found
the Syrian government liable in the 2012 death of American journalist Marie
Colvin, ordering it to pay $300 million in punitive damages. Colvin was
reporting from in the western Syrian city of Homs when the makeshift media
center where she was working came under artillery attack. French photographer
Rémi Ochlik, 28, also was killed and other journalists and activists
were wounded. Colvin's sister Cathleen and Cathleen's three children filed
the lawsuit in 2016. They asserted their claims under a provision of the
Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, a federal law that permits victims to
sue U.S.-designated state sponsors of terrorism. The Syrian government
ignored the lawsuit. By failing to appear, it defaulted in the case. Syria
also was ordered to pay $2.5 million in compensation to Cathleen Colvin
and $11,836 in funeral expenses. The amount of compensatory damages remains
to be determined."

Highly unlikely anyone
will see a dime, -- but the principle is what truly matters.

"Judge Amy Berman Jackson
of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ruled that the
attack was "an extrajudicial killing" and that Marie Colvin "was specifically
targeted because of her profession, for the purpose of silencing those
reporting on the growing opposition movement in the country." Jackson noted
that the plaintiffs' briefing had nearly 1,000 pages of attached exhibits,
declarations and expert reports, making an evidentiary hearing unnecessary.
"By perpetrating a directed attack against the Media Center, Syria intended
to intimidate journalists, inhibit newsgathering and the dissemination
of information, and suppress dissent," Jackson wrote. "A targeted murder
of an American citizen, whose courageous work was not only important, but
vital to our understanding of warzones and of wars generally, is outrageous,
and therefore a punitive damages award that multiples [multiplies?]
the impact on the responsible state is warranted."

The Aryan arrogance of
the dictator remains unparalleled:

"It's highly unlikely
that Syria will pay the judgment. In a 2016 interview with NBC News, Bashar
Assad shrugged off Colvin's death: "It's a war and she came illegally to
Syria. She worked with the terrorists, and because she came illegally,
she's been responsible of everything that befall on her."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam
(D) is refusing to resign despite overwhelming pressure from within his
own party and has told several lawmakers that he does not think that a
racist photo in his 1984 medical school yearbook includes him, Democratic
party officials said Saturday."

Time for him to go.
Has no credibility.

"The governor has been
telling senior Virginia Democrats that he believes there was a mixup when
the yearbook was produced and the image of a person dressed in blackface
and another in a Ku Klux Klan robe mistakenly ended up on his page.

"Northam’s private explanation
runs counter to his public apology Friday, when he acknowledged that he
appeared in what he called a “clearly racist” image. He spent the morning
calling state and federal lawmakers, including Democratic Sens. Mark Warner,
Tim Kaine and Rep. Bobby Scott, according to Democratic aides. Northam
told them he has no memory of being in the photograph, despite his public
apology, the aides said. He said he remembers selecting three other photos
that appear on the page but not the offensive image."

How is that something
one would forget? Have no memory of?

"In the phone calls, the
governor distanced himself from the yearbook, saying he didn’t purchase
it. And he told lawmakers that he talked to medical school classmates who
confirmed that some of the photos on various pages might have gotten mixed
up. “He should have said that yesterday then,” said State Sen. L. Louise
Lucas (D-Portsmouth), who was among the lawmakers who received a call from
Northam Saturday morning. “He just told me he didn’t think it’s him. And
I said, ‘Ralph, this is a day late and a dollar short. It’s too late.’”

No question.

"Northam was defying an
avalanche of calls to step down from the office he’d assumed not 13 months
ago. He spent Friday night huddled with advisers. A meeting with the state’s
legislative black caucus went poorly. National Democrats, including a host
of a 2020 contenders and former vice president Joe Biden, said he must
resign. And even home-state allies who regarded him as a dear friend —
including immediate predecessor and patron Terry McAuliffe (D), himself
a potential presidential candidate — said he had to go."

Again, no question.
Too little. Too late.

"By 9 a.m. friends who
hoped he could weather the crisis were wondering if he could survive and
avoid becoming the first Virginia governor to resign in modern times. More
than a dozen protesters braved the frigid air to protest outside the governor's
mansion, holding signs such as "Blackface, no place" and "Step down and
do Virginia a favor." They chanted "Resign now!" "There's no question the
tide turned," said one ally, who had been briefed by the governor's senior
staff and spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized
to disclose the private discussions. Northam and his inner circle had been
preparing to fight as news of the photograph broke Friday afternoon - he
issued a written apology, then a video mea culpa. They planned a "reconciliation
tour," taking him across the commonwealth to say he was sorry in person,
his ally said. "Then everything changed between 6 and 9 p.m.," the ally
said, as national Democrats unleashed a torrent of calls for his resignation."

He's got to go.
Handled this poorly.

"On Friday, Northam, 59,
released a statement and a video in which he admitted to appearing in the
photo, although he did not say which costume he wore. “I am deeply sorry
for the decision I made to appear as I did in this photo and for the hurt
that decision caused then and now,” he said. “This behavior is not in keeping
with who I am today and the values I have fought for throughout my career
in the military, in medicine, and in public service. But I want to be clear,
I understand how this decision shakes Virginians’ faith in that commitment.”

Not clear that he does.
This happened decades ago. Should have been upfront with voters when
running for office. Made his apologies then. Ascribed it to
youthful indiscretion, stupidity. Failed to do so. Likely,
would have ended the run, but voters were entitled to this information.
Where was media? Clearly, failed to thoroughly vet him. ...
Or, sat on this information.

"As cable television devoted
hours to the controversy and social media lit up with #ResignRalph hashtags,
Northam’s most trusted allies called for him to step down, including his
onetime partner, McAuliffe, state Senate and House Democrats, Virginia’s
Legislative Black Caucus and Planned Parenthood. Calls to resign also came
from Democratic presidential hopefuls Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.), Sen.
Kamala D. Harris (Calif.), Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Sen. Cory Booker
(N.J.) and Julián Castro, a former mayor of San Antonio."

Has to go.

“Black face in any manner
is always racist and never okay,” tweeted Derrick Johnson, president of
the NAACP. “No matter the party affiliation, we can not stand for such
behavior, which is why the @NAACP is calling for the resignation of Virginia
Governor @RalphNortham.”

Blacks have certainly
profoundly suffered for centuries.

"The photo reverberated
across the country and shook Virginians, who have struggled with a long
and difficult legacy around race. “Virginia’s history is unfortunately
replete with the scars and unhealed wounds caused by racism, bigotry and
discrimination,” said Virginia Attorney General Mark R. Herring (D), who
plans to run for governor in 2021. “It is imperative that Governor Nor­tham
hears and truly listens to those who are hurt by this image as he considers
what comes next.”

Needs to go. Party
affiliation has no bearing. No relevance.

"Members of the state
legislature’s Black Caucus said earlier that “what has been revealed is
disgusting, reprehensible, and offensive. We feel complete betrayal. The
legacy of slavery, racism, and Jim Crow has been an albatross around the
necks of African Americans for over 400 years. These pictures rip off the
scabs of an excruciatingly painful history and are a piercing reminder
of this nation’s sins. Those who would excuse the pictures are just as
culpable.”

Indeed. Time for
this country to wake up.

"The caucus was also grappling
with revelations in another yearbook, from Northam’s time at Virginia Military
Institute. That book listed one of his nicknames as “Coonman,” which some
members interpreted as a racial slur."

Seems the next in line
to replace him all have problems of their own. LOL. More on
this as the story develops.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-8-19

Draconian abortion law
temporarily blocked. CBS News reports:

"The Supreme Court is
temporarily keeping a Louisiana law regulating abortion clinics on hold.
Justice Samuel Alito said in a brief order Friday that the justices need
more time to review arguments for and against the law, which requires doctors
at abortion clinics to have admitting privileges at a nearby hospital."

Amazing coming from a
Republican nazi 'justice' usually more than willing to legislate his outrageously
perverse ideological and religious views from the bench.

"The law, originally enacted
in 2014, was set to take effect Monday, though clinics have asked the high
court to block its enforcement. The clinics say at least one and maybe
two of Louisiana's three abortion clinics would have to close if the law
is allowed to take effect."

Precisely, what the nazi
writers of the law intend. Shamelessly dictate to a woman what she
can and cannot do with HER uterus. Nazi Aryan arrogance Hitler and
Benito would have been so eminently proud of.

"A judge in the federal
district court in Louisiana struck down the law in 2017, but it was upheld
by a federal appeals court in September. The appeals court said it's not
clear that any clinic would close."

Horse shit. Unadulterated.
Another nazi appeals court more than willing to legislate its perverse
ideological and religious views from the bench, -- in support of its national
socialist, fascist, nazi base in the Republican Party.

"The Supreme Court struck
down a similar law in Texas in 2016, with Justice Anthony Kennedy as the
deciding vote in the 5-3 decision. Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a conservative
jurist whom many Republicans hope will help shift the court to the right,
has since replaced Kennedy."

Kavanaugh is no 'conservative.'
Barry Goldwater, Bill Buckley were conservatives. Kavanaugh's a goddamned
national socialist, fascist, nazi. This bastard presents an exigent
threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and liberties.
Will legislate his outrageously perverse ideological and religious views
from the bench.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-1-19

Think Aryan arrogance
is not an issue for the nazi element in the Republican Party? That
these bastards are not hopelessly, cluelessly out to lunch? NPR reports:

"Commerce Secretary Wilbur
Ross said he didn't understand why furloughed federal workers, or those
working without pay, might struggle or need to visit food banks. Democrats
called him out of touch."

Forget? This piece
of human excrement is a billionaire. What could this jackass possibly
know about going without at least anytime in the recent past?

Insult to injury?
Get this:

"Commerce Secretary Wilbur
Ross downplayed the hardships caused by a partial government shutdown on
Thursday as some 800,000 federal workers prepared to miss a second consecutive
payday. Ross told CNBC he is puzzled by reports of federal workers turning
to food banks and other forms of relief, suggesting they should be able
to obtain bridge loans to tide them over until the government reopens."

Jesus Christ. This
piece of human excrement does not live on the same planet as his underlings.

"True, the people might
have to pay a little bit of interest," said Ross. "But the idea that it's
'paycheck or zero' is not a really valid idea."

Certainly, not if you're
a billionaire.

"Democratic House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi denounced what she called a "let them eat cake" attitude from
the commerce secretary, whose net worth has been estimated by Forbes magazine
at nearly $700 million. "They just don't understand why people have to
stand in food lines," Pelosi said. The speaker added that Democrats planned
to share stories of struggling federal workers on Thursday afternoon."

Chuck Schumer was no less
vociferous:

"Wilbur Ross is @realDonaldTrump’s
Secretary of Commerce.

"Wilbur Ross is a billionaire.

"And this is billionaire
Wilbur Ross saying he doesn’t understand why federal workers not getting
paid during the #TrumpShutdown don’t just take out loans *to feed their
families*.

"Unreal. pic.twitter.com/YHHZqKa8sx"

"— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer)
January 24, 2019"

No less incredulous was
Rep. Wexton:

"Rep. Jennifer Wexton,
D-Va., whose district includes many unpaid federal workers, invited the
commerce secretary to join her at a food bank this weekend. "I think it
would be a valuable learning experience for you to see what our federal
workforce, including your own employees at the Department of Commerce,
are going through," Wexton wrote in a letter to Ross."

Wouldn't want to confuse
an out of touch patrician with the truth, would we?

NBC News reports:

"Commerce Secretary Wilbur
Ross on Thursday afternoon defended his take on the financial challenges
facing furloughed federal workers after saying earlier in the day that
he did not "understand" why they might need help from homeless shelters
and food banks. Ross said in a second interview that his intention had
been to make sure government workers were aware that loans could be an
option as the shutdown continues. "We're aware, painfully aware, that there
are hardships inflicted on the individual workers,” Ross said on Bloomberg.
“All I was trying to do was make sure that they are aware that there are
possible other things that can help somewhat mitigate their problems."

Mighty 'considerate'
of this jackass patrician bastard, isn't it?

"The remarks come hours
after Ross was asked on CNBC about reports that some federal workers were
relying on charity for essentials as the shutdown enters its second month.
He responded by suggesting that furloughed employees should borrow money
to make ends meet while the shutdown continues. “Banks and credit unions
should be making credit available to them,” Ross said. “Now true, the people
might have to pay a little bit of interest, but the idea that it's paycheck
or zero is not a really valid idea.” On the CNBC interview, Ross also rejected
the notion that the government shutdown — now entering day 34, the longest
in U.S. history — was damaging the country’s reputation or economy in the
long term. “I think that is a great deal of hyperbole,” Ross said. “We’ve
had shutdowns, albeit for not such a long period as we've been thus far,
but put in the perspective: You're talking about 800,000 workers. And while
I feel sorry for the individuals that have hardship cases, 800,000 workers
if they never got their pay — which is not the case, they will eventually
get it — but if they never got it, you're talking about a third of a percent
on our GDP.”

This piece of shit
just doesn't get it.

"Although furloughed workers
will eventually receive back pay when the government reopens, many contract
workers will not be able to make up for missed work."

Wouldn't want to confuse
an idiot with the truth, would we?

"Democrats were quick
to slam Ross's comments as out of touch with the reality that many furloughed
employees face. "I guess anybody at the top of the food chain is totally
tone deaf," Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., told reporters at the Capitol. "I
don’t know, is this the 'let them eat cake' attitude or 'call your father
for money?'” Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., responded when asked about Ross's
remark."

ABC News reports:

"The comments come one
day after President Donald Trump's daughter-in-law and campaign adviser,
Lara Trump, faced criticism for her own comments regarding government workers.
“This is so much bigger than any one person," Lara Trump said. "It is a
little bit of pain, but it's going to be for the future of our country,
and their children and their grandchildren and generations after them will
thank them for their sacrifice right now.”

Unbridled Aryan arrogance.
Expected of the nazi element.

"The president himself
was criticized early on in the shutdown when he was similarly pressed on
whether he could sympathize with workers who have to go without pay as
he continued to demand Congress fund his proposed wall along the U.S.-Mexico
border.
"I can relate," Trump said. "I'm sure the people that are on the receiving
end will make adjustments. They always do. People understand what's going
on. Many of those people that won't be receiving a paycheck, many of those
people agree 100 percent with what I'm doing."

A nazi fuhrer hopelessly
out to lunch, head figuratively, securely lodged up a bodily orifice seldom
seeing the light of day.

Yet, his hypocrisy knows
no bounds. The Washington Post reports:

"They had spent years
on the staff of Donald Trump’s golf club, winning employee-of-the-month
awards and receiving glowing letters of recommendation. Some were trusted
enough to hold the keys to Eric Trump’s weekend home. They were experienced
enough to know that when Donald Trump ordered chicken wings they were to
serve him two orders on one plate. But on Jan. 18, about a dozen employees
at Trump National Golf Club in Westchester County, N.Y., were summoned,
one by one, to talk with a human resources executive from Trump headquarters.
During the meetings, they were fired because they are undocumented immigrants,
according to interviews with the workers and their attorney. The fired
workers are from Latin America. The sudden firings — which were previously
unreported — follow last year’s revelations of undocumented labor at a
Trump club in New Jersey, where employees were subsequently dismissed.
The firings show Trump’s business was relying on undocumented workers even
as the president demanded a border wall to keep out such immigrants."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-1-19

Pressure increases on
Trump. The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump’s former
personal attorney Michael Cohen indefinitely postponed his upcoming congressional
testimony Wednesday, citing “ongoing threats against his family from President
Trump” and his attorney Rudolph W. Giuliani. Threats from the duo reached
Cohen and his family as recently as this weekend, according to a statement
from Cohen’s attorney, Lanny Davis. On Wednesday afternoon, Trump responded
to the announcement, denying the allegations. “He’s only been threatened
by the truth,” the president said."

Think so? ... Or,
is the Trump nazi beginning to soil his pants?

Get this:

"A recent spate of Trump
attacks arrived after BuzzFeed broke a story late on Jan. 17 alleging that
special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s team had collected evidence that
Trump directed Cohen to lie to Congress. Trump took to Twitter on Friday,
suggesting that Cohen’s father-in-law should be investigated."

Desperation?

“Lying to reduce his jail
time! Watch father-in-law!” he wrote, after reminding 57.7 million followers
that Cohen “has already been convicted of perjury and fraud, and as recently
as this week, the Wall Street Journal has suggested that he may have stolen
tens of thousands of dollars." Over the weekend, he and Giuliani implied
the same on national television — Trump to Fox News host Judge Jeanine
Pirro and Guiliani on CNN. In an interview Thursday on “Good Morning America,”
Davis responded to Guiliani’s commentary, urging his indictment. “Calling
out a man’s father-in-law and wife in order to intimidate the witness is
not fair game,” he said. “Mr. Giuliani has committed a crime or at least
should be indicted for that crime on the face of what he said."

Here's what's possibly
the bottom line to all this:

"Legal experts called
the missives a newsworthy development that could amount to evidence of
obstructing justice. Norman Eisen, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution,
said in December that the most striking thing was that there were two statements
in proximity. “It comes very close to the statutory definition of witness
tampering,” he said. “He may have crossed the legal line.”

Think so? Certainly,
appears to be the case.

Others apparently think
so:

"Respected figures across
party lines also responded to Trump’s tweets on the social media platform.
Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) called it “serious” then, adding that “the
President of the United States should not be using his platform to influence
potential witnesses in a federal investigation involving his campaign.”
Attorney George Conway, husband of White House counselor Kellyanne Conway,
then referenced the federal statute most likely to create legal liability
for Trump: 18 U.S.C. §§ 1512, which outlines the crime of witness
tampering. “Donald Trump is not acting like an innocent man, he is acting
like he is afraid of the truth,” former acting solicitor general Neal Katyal
said Wednesday. Tampering with a witness is an obstruction of justice.
It’s a federal crime for an individual to intimidate, threaten or “corruptly
persuade” another person with the goal of influencing or preventing his
or her testimony."

House Oversight Committee
seems sympathetic:

"Cohen was scheduled to
testify publicly before the House Oversight Committee on Feb. 7, at the
invitation of the committee’s chairman, Rep. Elijah E. Cummings (D-Md.).
In a joint statement, Cummings and Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Mass.), chairman
of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, acknowledged Cohen’s
“legitimate concerns,” adding that “efforts to intimidate witnesses, scare
their family members, or prevent them from testifying before Congress are
textbook mob tactics that we condemn in the strongest terms.” There is
a certain amount of ambiguity in Trump’s statements, leaving wiggle room
for his defenders to say he was not making threats but blowing off steam.
As the chief executive, the president oversees criminal prosecution of
federal cases. Unlike firing federal officials, directly encouraging a
potential witness not to cooperate in an investigation involving his own
conduct is significant. Cohen’s decision not to testify out of fear for
his family could be yet another basis for the now-Democrat-controlled House
to determine that Trump engaged in an abuse of power."

Think the nazi in the
Oval Office isn't growing increasingly desperate? Get this:

“Michael Cohen asks judge
for no Prison Time.” You mean he can do all of the TERRIBLE, unrelated
to Trump, things having to do with fraud, big loans, Taxis, etc., and not
serve a long prison term? He makes up stories to get a GREAT & ALREADY
reduced deal for himself, and get.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
December 3, 2018....his wife and father-in-law
(who has the money?) off Scott Free. He lied for this outcome and should,
in my opinion, serve a full and complete sentence.

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
December 3, 2018"

Sound presidential to
you? ... Or, a scoundrel soiling his pants?

NPR reports:

"President Trump's former
personal attorney Michael Cohen has postponed the public testimony he planned
to give next month to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee,
citing "threats" from Trump. A lawyer for Cohen said on Wednesday that
"ongoing threats" against Cohen's family from the president and his attorney,
Rudy Giuliani, "as well as Mr. Cohen's cooperation with ongoing investigations,"
had prompted him to decide not to appear as planned. Trump told reporters
at the White House that Cohen "has been threatened by the truth." The office
of special counsel Robert Mueller, which is investigating Russian connections
to the 2016 election, declined to comment."

The following is quite
interesting:

"Two key House Democratic
chairman said Wednesday that they sympathized with Cohen's concerns but
that ultimately this was not up to him. "We understand that Mr. Cohen's
wife and other family members fear for their safety after these attacks,
and we have repeatedly offered our assistance to work with law enforcement
to enhance security measures for Mr. Cohen and his family. Nevertheless,
when our committees began discussions with Mr. Cohen's attorney, not appearing
before Congress was never an option." Rep. Elijah Cummings of Maryland
— chairman of the oversight committee — and Rep. Adam Schiff of California
— chairman of the intelligence committee — also echoed earlier criticism
of Trump for what they suggested was obstruction of justice and witness
tampering. "As we stated previously with our colleague, Chairman Jerry
Nadler of the Judiciary Committee, efforts to intimidate witnesses, scare
their family members, or prevent them from testifying before Congress are
textbook mob tactics that we condemn in the strongest terms," Cummings
and Schiff said."

Get his ass as soon as
possible in front of the committee. The public is entitled to his
testimony.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-1-19

Noose grows figuratively
tighter. The Washington Post reports:

"Roger J. Stone Jr., a
longtime informal adviser to President Trump, was arrested Friday by the
FBI in Florida on charges that he lied and tried to tamper with a witness
to hide his efforts to learn about releases of Democrats’ hacked emails
during the 2016 presidential campaign. Stone was charged with seven counts,
including one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts
of false statements and one count of witness tampering. After the early
morning arrest at his home, he appeared briefly in federal court in Fort
Lauderdale, Fla., wearing a blue polo shirt, jeans, and steel shackles
on his wrists and ankles. The judge ordered him released on a $250,000
bond."

Why was he released?
Considering the enormity of what he's accused of, think he's not a flight
risk?

"Speaking before a raucous
crowd outside the courthouse, Stone vowed to fight the case. “I will plead
not guilty to these charges. I will defeat them in court,” he said. Some
in the crowd jeered and chanted “lock him up.” Others shouted support for
Stone. “There is no circumstance whatsoever under which I will bear false
witness against the president nor will I make up lies to ease the pressure
on myself. I look forward to being fully and completely vindicated,” Stone
said. “I will not testify against the president because I would have to
bear false witness.”

Think he's not a lying
son of a bitch?

"With Stone’s indictment,
special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has struck deep inside Trump’s inner
circle, charging a long-standing friend of the president. The court filing
charges Stone sought to gather information about hacked emails at the direction
of an unidentified senior Trump campaign official, and then engaged in
extensive efforts to keep secret the details of those efforts."

What criminal wouldn't,
-- to cover his sorry ass? To say nothing of his fuhrer.

Quickly drew the attention
of the Trump nazi:

"Trump tweeted angrily
after the arrest. “Greatest Witch Hunt in the History of our Country! NO
COLLUSION! Border Coyotes, Drug Dealers and Human Traffickers are treated
better.” The president also suggested someone may have tipped off CNN to
record video of the early morning arrest, though there were growing signs
Thursday at the grand jury in Washington that Stone could be charged soon."

Was certainly just a matter
of time.

"The indictment centers
on Stone’s efforts to find out when potentially damaging emails internal
to Hillary Clinton’s campaign would be released by Julian Assange, the
leader of the anti-secrecy group WikiLeaks. U.S. officials say Russian
intelligence agents hacked Democrats and their email accounts and then
shared them with WikiLeaks, which publicized them during the final months
of the 2016 election.

“After the July 22, 2016
release of stolen DNC emails ... a senior Trump campaign official was directed
to contact Stone about any additional releases and what other damaging
information Organization 1 had regarding the Clinton campaign. Stone thereafter
told the Trump campaign about potential future releases of damaging material
by Organization 1,” the indictment states. People familiar with the case
said Organization 1 is WikiLeaks. The indictment does not identify the
senior Trump campaign official, nor does it say who directed the senior
campaign official to contact Stone. The indictment also does not accuse
Stone of conspiring with Assange or Russian officials."

Get this:

"After the election, according
to the indictment, Stone tried to cover up what he had done by lying about
it to Congress and attempting to persuade another witness, identified only
as “Person 2,” to refuse to talk to the House Intelligence Committee. People
close to the case said Person 2 is New York comedian Randy Credico. As
Credico prepared for possible testimony before the House Intelligence Committee,
Stone repeatedly pressured him not to reveal anything that would suggest
Stone had misled the committee in his earlier denials, according to the
indictment. In December 2017, authorities charge, Stone used a reference
to one of the Godfather movies to try to keep Credico quiet. “Stone told
Person 2 that Person 2 should do a ‘Frank Pentangeli’ before [the committee]
in order to avoid contradicting Stone’s testimony,” the indictment charges,
adding: “Frank Pentangeli is a character in the film The Godfather: Part
II, which both Stone and Person 2 had discussed, who testifies before a
congressional committee and in that testimony claims not to know critical
information that he does in fact know.”

Stone has been a Trump
operative and crony quite some time:

"Stone, 66, who has been
friends with Trump for three decades, served briefly as a formal adviser
to his presidential campaign in 2015 and then remained in contact with
Trump and top advisers through the election. The GOP operative has been
a key focus of the special counsel for months as Mueller has investigated
whether anyone in Trump’s orbit conspired with Russia to interfere in the
2016 presidential campaign."

Let the games begin.

CBS News reports:

"White House press secretary
Sarah Sanders dismissed the idea that Stone's indictment is related to
the White House. "This has nothing to do with the president and certainly
nothing to do with the White House, this has something that has to do solely
with that individual and not something that affects us here in this building,"
she said on CNN Friday."

Wishful thinking?
... Or, raw delusion.

CBS News reports:

"The FBI raid on the home
of Roger Stone in the early morning hours of Friday, during which the former
Trump campaign adviser and longtime confidante was arrested on charges
of making false statements to investigators, obstruction of justice and
witness tampering, was "overkill," former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie
said. Speaking on "CBS This Morning" Monday, Christie, a former U.S attorney,
faulted prosecutors for how FBI agents made the arrest, stating that Stone
did not pose a flight risk. Christie said the only way he would have authorized
such a raid was "if we knew that he had a gun. And if so, if someone has
a gun and you're indicting them, you worry about them killing themselves
or harming others. When I found out that Roger Stone did not have a gun,
I think it was over the top for them to do that. "He's not a flight risk.
How could Roger Stone get out of country?"

The same way anyone with
enormous financial resources and high-level political contacts can.
Moreover, why shouldn't everyone be treated equally by law enforcement?
Bottom to top. Top to bottom. In fairness to law enforcement,
there was absolutely no certainty Stone had no firearm, and if he had,
no unwillingness to use it on officers.

NBC News reports:

"Roger Stone, a former
adviser to President Donald Trump, pleaded not guilty Tuesday to obstruction,
giving false statements and witness tampering charges he faces as part
of special counsel Robert Mueller's investigation into Russian election
interference. Stone, 66, was arrested Friday morning after a grand jury
in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia indicted him on
one count of obstruction of an official proceeding, five counts of making
false statements and one count of witness tampering. He was later released
on a $250,000 signature bond."

Why? Presents a
flight risk.

"On Tuesday, Stone only
addressed the court to say he understood the conditions of his release,
which had not changed. He will still not be allowed to contact potential
witnesses in the case, his passport remains seized and his travel is restricted
to his home in Florida, the D.C., Delaware, Maryland and Virginia area
and New York. After the hearing, he was required to report to the U.S.
Marshal’s office to complete his booking. A status hearing is scheduled
for Friday."

Imagine that. How
the mighty have fallen.

"In August of 2016, Stone
was claiming both publicly and privately to have communicated with Organization
1, known to be Wikileaks, while the organization made a public statement
denying direct talks, according to the indictment. During that summer,
Stone, who left the Trump campaign in 2015 but "maintained regular contact
with and publicly supported" the campaign through the 2016 election, spoke
with senior Trump campaign officials about WikiLeaks and “information it
might have had that would be damaging to the Clinton Campaign," the indictment
said. After the presidential election, Congress and the FBI announced investigations
into Russia’s meddling in the 2016 election, including Stone’s claimed
contact with WikiLeaks. The indictment alleges that Stone obstructed the
investigations by making multiple false statements to the House Permanent
Select Committee on Intelligence about his interactions with WikiLeaks
and attempted to persuade a witness to provide false testimony and withhold
information."

Why wouldn't he run?
... Or, is he expecting a pardon from his fuhrer, the Trump nazi?

The Washington Post
reports:

"Appearing before U.S.
Magistrate Deborah A. Robinson, Stone’s plea was entered by his lawyer,
Robert C. Buschel. “A plea of not guilty is entered,” Robinson said in
response. As Stone walked into the courthouse Tuesday morning, some onlookers
chanted “lock him up!” while others screamed their support for him and
the president. Afterward, some of those same people engaged in profanity-laced
arguments about the case. After his indictment Friday, Stone embarked on
a blitz of weekend media appearances to declare his innocence, criticize
prosecutors and repeat his pledge that he would not testify against the
president. At an initial court appearance Friday in Florida after his arrest
at his Fort Lauderdale home, the 66-year-old Stone appeared in shackles
but was released on $250,000 bond."

Fit for a king, no?
LOL.

"Stone’s court hearing
Tuesday was far more understated than his initial appearance last week
in Florida, when he held a news conference on the courthouse steps and
raised his arms and made V-for-victory signs with his fingers, mimicking
the famous image of his personal hero, former president Richard M. Nixon.
Stone said only “I feel fine” as he left the courtroom Tuesday. He was
ushered out of the courthouse amid a raucous throng of reporters, supporters
and protesters, one of whom brought speakers blaring the song “Back in
the U.S.S.R.”

LOL.

"Stone, a veteran GOP
operative and friend of Trump for four decades, briefly advised the presidential
campaign in 2015 and remained in contact with Trump and top advisers through
the election. The indictment centers on Stone’s alleged efforts to learn
when potentially damaging internal emails from Hillary Clinton’s presidential
campaign would be released by Julian Assange, WikiLeaks’s leader. U.S.
authorities in July indicted a dozen Russian military intelligence officers
on charges they hacked Democrats’ computers, stole their data and published
those files to disrupt the 2016 election, using as one of their conduits
WikiLeaks, the global anti-secrecy group, which publicized the emails during
the campaign’s final months. In Stone’s indictment, prosecutors charged
that after the initial July 22, 2016, release of stolen emails, “a senior
Trump campaign official was directed to contact Stone about any additional
releases and what other damaging information Organization 1 had regarding
the Clinton campaign.” The indictment does not name the campaign official
or who directed the alleged outreach to Stone. The indictment states that
Stone later told the campaign about potential future releases by “Organization
1,” which people familiar with the case said is WikiLeaks."

The following speaks volumes
of the Aryan arrogance of this Trump nazi operative:

"Stone has given numerous
media interviews during the months that he has been under investigation,
and he preempted prosecutors by publicly releasing many of the emails and
texts he knew they were examining before they could be used in legal action.
Since his arrest, Stone all but invited a federal judge to impose a gag
order, saying on social media that a directive to mute him is “the fervent
wish of the Deep State.” Stone got his start in politics working for Nixon’s
1972 reelection campaign and has a tattoo on his back of the disgraced
ex-president. Since then, he has advised Republican and Libertarian candidates,
including Ronald Reagan, Bob Dole and Gary Johnson."

What national socialist
wouldn't?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-1-19

Think Trump won't be quickly
challenged in court? NPR reports:

"The Trump administration
on Friday is implementing its plan requiring asylum-seekers, mainly from
Central America, to remain in Mexico while their legal proceedings are
conducted in the U.S. court system. The policy will be rolled out at San
Diego's San Ysidro border crossing, the nation's busiest, a senior official
with U.S. Customs and Border Protection tells NPR. The plan, coming out
of talks with Mexican officials, is to bus asylum-seekers back and forth
from Tijuana, Mexico, to a courthouse in downtown San Diego. The administration
plans to eventually implement the policy at other border crossings. Homeland
Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen first announced the plans for this
"historic" policy, called the "Migration Protection Protocols," in a memo
issued in late December. "Aliens trying to game the system to get into
our country illegally will no longer be able to disappear into the United
States, where many skip their court dates. Instead, they will wait for
an immigration court decision while they are in Mexico. 'Catch and release'
will be replaced with 'catch and return,'" said Nielsen."

The Secretary is certainly
gutlessly goose stepping in unison with the Trump nazi.

"A senior official with
Customs and Border Protection told NPR he expects the new policy will be
met with a swift legal challenge."

Needs to be. Raw
nazism. Our
fuhrer in the Oval Office is clearly following
in the footsteps of his national socialist mentors, Adolf Hitler, Benito
Mussolini.

"Immigrant and asylum
advocates were quick to denounce the policy change."

Rightfully, so.
Nazism must be challenged.

"Forcing families seeking
asylum to remain in dangerous conditions in Mexico spits in the face of
the values at the core of our country's identity," said Jess Morales Rocketto,
chair of Families Belong Together, a coalition of 250 groups opposing the
administration's immigration policies. "The reality of this plan is suffering.
These children and families will be left unsafe, without food or shelter,
in violation of their human rights."

"Kushner's application
for a top-secret clearance was rejected by two career White House security
specialists after an FBI background check raised concerns about potential
foreign influence on him — but their supervisor overruled the recommendation
and approved the clearance, two sources familiar with the matter told NBC
News. The official, Carl Kline, is a former Pentagon employee who was installed
as director of the personnel security office in the Executive Office of
the President in May 2017. Kushner's was one of at least 30 cases in which
Kline overruled career security experts and approved a top-secret clearance
for incoming Trump officials despite unfavorable information, the two sources
said. They said the number of rejections that were overruled was unprecedented
— it had happened only once in the three years preceding Kline's arrival.
The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitive
nature of the information, said the Trump White House attracted many people
with untraditional backgrounds who had complicated financial and personal
histories, some of which raised red flags. Kushner's FBI background check
identified questions about his family's business, his foreign contacts,
his foreign travel and meetings he had during the campaign, the sources
said, declining to be more specific.

"After Kline overruled
the White House security specialists and recommended Kushner for a top-secret
clearance, Kushner's file then went to the CIA for a ruling on SCI. After
reviewing the file, CIA officers who make clearance decisions balked, two
of the people familiar with the matter said. One called over to the White
House security division, wondering how Kushner got even a top-secret clearance,
the sources said. Top-secret information is defined as material that would
cause "exceptionally grave damage" to national security if disclosed to
adversaries. The sources say the CIA has not granted Kushner clearance
to review SCI material. That would mean Kushner lacks access to key intelligence
unless President Donald Trump decides to override the rules, which is the
president's' prerogative. The Washington Post reported in July 2018 that
Kushner was not given an "SCI" clearance. CIA spokesman Timothy Barrett
said, "The CIA does not comment on individual security clearances." White
House press secretary Sarah Sanders said the same: "We don't comment on
security clearances." NBC News was unable to reach Kline for comment. Kushner's
lawyer, Abbe Lowell, had no comment."

Fascinating, isn't it?
Report goes on and on. Trump and his cronies seem to have repeatedly
overruled those responsible for granting security clearances. Readers
are reminded Kushner is the fuhrer's son-in-law.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-1-19

Trump caves. Had
no choice. The Washington Post reports:

"His poll numbers were
plummeting. His FBI director was decrying the dysfunction. The nation’s
air travel was in chaos. Federal workers were lining up at food banks.
Economic growth was at risk of flatlining, and even some Republican senators
were in open revolt. So on Friday, the 35th day of a government shutdown
that he said he was proud to instigate, President Trump finally folded.
After vowing for weeks that he would keep the government closed unless
he secured billions in funding for his promised border wall, Trump agreed
to reopen it. He got $0 instead. Trump’s capitulation to Democrats marked
a humiliating low point in a polarizing presidency and sparked an immediate
backlash among some conservative allies, who cast him as a wimp. Elected
as a self-proclaimed master dealmaker and business wizard who would bend
Washington to his will and stand firm on his campaign promises — chief
among them the wall — Trump risks being exposed as ineffective."

Doesn't your heart bleed?
Forget? 'Stupid is as stupid does.'

NBC News reports:

"President Donald Trump
promised a wall. He got a procedural death trap."

Did he ever.

"More than that, he undermined
the brand he's tried to build as an indefatigable fighter, a master strategist
and the world's savviest deal-maker. On all those counts, he lost — and
lost big — Friday. Usually, the loser in Washington gets some sort of policy
fig leaf to cover up for the fact that they were defeated. Trump got nada."

Total loss. Tough
shit, isn't it?

"The deal he cut boils
down to this: He gave up the $5.7 billion wall-money ransom he'd sought
and the hostage he'd taken — his own government's operations — in exchange
for Democrats agreeing to participate in a "conference committee," which
is the legislative equivalent of a firing squad for his wall."

LOL.

"He did gain one more
thing he probably didn't want — a lesson in messing with House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif. She stared him down over the border wall, the five-week
partial government shutdown and the question of who decides whether and
when he can deliver a State of the Union address to a joint session of
Congress."

Certainly did, -- not
that Pelosi is worth a shit or doesn't have enormous problems of her own.

"Trump gamely tried to
declare victory by portraying Democrats as willing to acknowledge that
some sort of border barrier is "part of the solution" to stopping illegal
immigration and the flow of contraband across the southern border. No one
else is particularly confused about the fact that Trump swung for the fences
and whiffed. "Trump is the Babe Ruth of our era: he doesn't practice and
he takes big, bold swings," said Dan Eberhart, a Republican donor who supports
the president. "Sometimes he hits dramatic home runs. Shutting down the
government over the border wall is a game-ending strikeout for his team."

Coulter was determinedly
vicious. So what else is new, par for the course? Get this:

"Ann Coulter, the conservative
commentator who has grown increasingly disillusioned with Trump, was less
forgiving in comparing Trump to the president who famously broke his "no
new taxes" pledge. "Good news for George Herbert Walker Bush: As of today,
he is no longer the biggest wimp ever to serve as President of the United
States," she tweeted."

Ouch! --
Not that the Democrats were to be outdone:

"And Rep. Dan Kildee,
a Michigan Democrat, said Trump's remarks from the Rose Garden Friday were
a first in his memory. "I've seen a lot of presidents take a victory lap
before," he said. "But this is the first time I've seen a president go
to the Rose Garden and take a defeat lap."

LOL. Truer words
never spoken.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-1-19

Think the GOP nazi element
does not remain cluelessly out to lunch? The following is a quote
from Sen. Ted "Screws Loose" Cruz' most recent Newsletter:

"On Monday, Americans
paused to honor the life of Reverend Martin Luther King Jr. His legacy
was forged in the most turbulent of times. In the face of racial inequality
and injustice, Rev. King devoted his life to preaching a gospel of hope
and love, freedom and equality for all mankind. As we honored the life
of Rev. King, it is fitting that at our great state’s capitol, Texans from
every background gathered together for the 2019 Texas School Choice Week
rally. I was proud to participate and will continue fighting for school
choice. I believe school choice is the civil rights issue of the 21st century
and every single child in the state of Texas – regardless of ethnicity,
zip code, or income - deserves access to an excellent education."

This nazi Republican's
conflated link of Martin Luther King with school choice shows the true
extent to which the national socialist, fascist element in our formerly
great country is willing to go to distort reality and defend its perverse
ideology and religious views. Why should taxpayers be looted to pay
for religious education that all too often teaches Right Wing fascism?

Clearly, our nazi Senator
does not seem to understand the First Amendment not only guaranties freedom
of religion, but freedom from it. The Senator also does not
seem to understand there is yet to be 'freedom and equality' for all in
this country. Far from it. In fact, we've gone backwards
under the Trump nazi and his racist henchmen.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-1-19

Who are you 'gonna' believe?
LOL. NBC News reports:

"U.S. intelligence agencies
assess that Russia and China will seek to interfere in the 2020 presidential
election, having learned lessons from Russia's operation in 2016, according
to the annual public survey of national security threats issued Tuesday.
"We assess that foreign actors will view the 2020 U.S. elections as an
opportunity to advance their interests," Dan Coats, the director of national
intelligence, told the Senate intelligence committee at the worldwide threats
hearing. In another notable statement, Coats noted that U.S. intelligence
agencies believe North Korea is unlikely to give up its nuclear weapons
because "its leaders ultimately view nuclear weapons as critical to regime
survival." That view stands in stark contrast to comments from President
Donald Trump, who in June declared that North Korea was "no longer a nuclear
threat," citing his talks with leader Kim Jong Un."

Couldn't be, could it?
LOL. Trump wouldn't lie, would he? LOL.

"Coats also rebutted Trump's
statement that ISIS has been defeated. He said the group was "nearing"
military defeat in Iraq, but has returned to its "guerrilla warfare roots,"
continues to plot attacks and "still commands thousands of fighters in
Iraq and Syria."

Trump can't, won't be
confused with the truth. Lives in his own reality.

The Washington Post
reports:

"President Trump lashed
out at U.S. intelligence officials Wednesday, calling them “extremely passive
and naive” about the “dangers of Iran” and pushing back on their assessments
of the Islamic State and North Korea during a congressional hearing.

"The Intelligence people
seem to be extremely passive and naive when it comes to the dangers of
Iran. They are wrong! When I became President Iran was making trouble all
over the Middle East, and beyond. Since ending the terrible Iran Nuclear
Deal, they are MUCH different, but....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
January 30, 2019....a source of potential
danger and conflict. They are testing Rockets (last week) and more, and
are coming very close to the edge. There economy is now crashing, which
is the only thing holding them back. Be careful of Iran. Perhaps Intelligence
should go back to school!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
January 30, 2019

When I became President,
ISIS was out of control in Syria & running rampant. Since then tremendous
progress made, especially over last 5 weeks. Caliphate will soon be destroyed,
unthinkable two years ago. Negotiating are proceeding well in Afghanistan
after 18 years of fighting..

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
January 30, 2019....Fighting continues
but the people of Afghanistan want peace in this never ending war. We will
soon see if talks will be successful? North Korea relationship is best
it has ever been with U.S. No testing, getting remains, hostages returned.
Decent chance of Denuclearization...

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
January 30, 2019...Time will tell what
will happen with North Korea, but at the end of the previous administration,
relationship was horrendous and very bad things were about to happen. Now
a whole different story. I look forward to seeing Kim Jong Un shortly.
Progress being made-big difference!

"Trump drew rebukes for
his tweets from Democrats, including Rep. Adam B. Schiff (D-Calif.), chairman
of the House Intelligence Committee. “It is a credit to our intelligence
agencies that they continue to provide rigorous and realistic analyses
of the threats we face,” Schiff said in a statement. “It’s deeply dangerous
that the White House isn’t listening.” Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.), the
vice chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, also weighed in. “The
President has a dangerous habit of undermining the intelligence community
to fit his alternate reality,” Warner said in a tweet. “People risk their
lives for the intelligence he just tosses aside on Twitter.”

Forget? Trump's
an idiot.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-1-19

More of the same.
At least, one judge stood tall. ABC News reports:

"A controversial law in
Iowa that sought to ban women from getting abortions after a fetal heartbeat
was detected has been ruled unconstitutional by a state judge. The so-called
"heartbeat bill" never went into effect in Iowa because it faced legal
challenges ever since Gov. Kim Reynolds signed it into law in May 2018.
Opponents noted that a fetal heartbeat can sometimes be detected as early
as six weeks into a pregnancy, at which point some women may not know that
they are pregnant, and it shortens the window by which a woman could have
a legal abortion in the state. The latest decision, issued on Jan. 22 in
the Polk County District Court, deemed it unconstitutional in the face
of the state's laws. The decision concluded that the parameters set in
the law are "violative of both the due process and equal protection provisions
of the Iowa Constitution as not being narrowly tailored to serve the compelling
state interest of promoting potential life."

Who the hell are these
goddamned hypocritical religious nazis to force their outrageously perverse
ideological and religious views on the rest of us by statute?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-1-19

Religious Right receiving
some opposition from fellow Christians. NPR reports:

"Dozens of clergy members,
immigration activists and others participate in a protest against the imprisonment
and potential deportation of an immigration activist. Religious liberals
are becoming increasingly outspoken in their opposition to many Trump administration
policies. Religious conservatives have rarely faced much competition in
the political realm from faith-based groups on the left. The provocations
of President Trump may finally be changing that. Nearly 40 years after
some prominent evangelical Christians organized a Moral Majority movement
to promote a conservative political agenda, a comparable effort by liberal
religious leaders is coalescing in support of immigrant rights, universal
health care, LGBTQ rights and racial justice. "We believe that faith has
a critical role to play in shaping public policies and influencing decision-makers,"
says the Rev. Jennifer Butler, an ordained Presbyterian minister and founder
of the group Faith in Public Life. "Our moral values speak to the kinds
of just laws that we ought to have." Her group, part of what could be considered
a religious left, says it has mobilized nearly 50,000 local clergy and
faith leaders, with on-the-ground operations in Florida, Georgia, North
Carolina and Ohio. Butler founded the organization in 2005 with a precedent
in mind: It was religious leaders who drove the abolitionist movement in
the 19th century and the civil rights movement in the 20th century. "I
think religion helps people understand who they should be," Butler says."

About time the Nazi Right
got some resistance from the Center and Left. What took so long?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-1-19

Think the Nazi Right presents
no exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights
and liberties? NPR reports:

"Two Illinois men have
pleaded guilty to charges brought by the U.S. Justice Department in the
August 2017 bombing of a mosque in Minnesota. Two men have pleaded guilty
in federal court to bombing a Minnesota mosque and attempting to bomb a
women's health clinic in Illinois. Prosecutors say the men and another
man accused in the case were part of an Illinois militia group that called
itself "White Rabbits." The U.S. Justice Department last year charged Michael
McWhorter, Joe Morris and a third man, Michael Hari, with using an explosive
device to damage the Dar Al-Farooq Islamic Center in Bloomington, Minn.,
in 2017. McWhorter and Morris pleaded guilty to five federal charges on
Thursday, including the attacks on the mosque and the Illinois clinic.
They had originally entered a not guilty plea. Hari, portrayed by both
prosecution and defense lawyers as group's ringleader, is being held in
federal custody in Illinois. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges,
the Star Tribune of Minneapolis reports."

No question, an ongoing
cancer in our formerly great country. Benito and Adolf would have
been proud. Must be 'high-fiving' on their fiery perches.

"Jaylani Hussein, executive
director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Minnesota, told
reporters after the hearing that the attack was not an isolated incident."

Surprised?

"The Muslim community
"has come under serious attack by white nationalists, white supremacist
groups and militia groups across this country," Hussein said. He added:
"We're not going anywhere. We are more resilient than ever." McWhorter
and Morris admitted to traveling hundreds of miles from Illinois to Minnesota,
leaving their cellphones at home and avoiding toll roads, to carry out
the attack on the mosque. They smashed the mosque's window and threw a
pipe bomb into the imam's office before the morning prayers. No one was
injured in the attack. According to an affidavit filed last year, McWhorter
told federal agents the men "did not intend to kill anyone but wanted to
'scare them out of the country' (referring to Muslims) because they push
their beliefs on everyone else."

Say what?

"Hussein encouraged law
enforcement and the current administration to recognize the "growing threat"
of violence against Muslims. He also called for a life sentence for the
men, who face at least 35 years in prison when they are sentenced."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-1-19

Think racism is not alive
and well. NPR reports:

"Michael Ertel, Florida's
secretary of state, resigned Thursday after photos emerged of him in blackface
in 2005."

Hard to believe someone
would be so stupid, isn't it?

"The photos show Ertel
at a Halloween party when he was the Seminole County Supervisor of Elections
– his lips are painted red and his face is painted black. His resignation
came after a Florida newspaper, the Tallahassee Democrat, was given the
photographs and showed them to the office of Gov. Ron DeSantis, which said
it had not previously seen them. "I am submitting my resignation as Florida
Secretary of State effective immediately," Ertel wrote in an email to the
governor that was provided to NPR. The governor's office confirmed that
his resignation had been accepted. The Democrat reports that, in the photos,
Ertel's shirt – which was apparently stuffed to imitate breasts – also
read "Katrina Victim," a reference to people who suffered through the hurricane
that devastated the Gulf Coast earlier that year."

Jesus Christ. What
a goddamned cruel son of a bitch.

"Ertel, who confirmed
to the paper that he was the man in the photos, said he wouldn't comment
on the record about the circumstances surrounding them: "There's nothing
I can say."

Yes, there is: 'I'm
sorry. Forgive me of my stupidity. Don't know what I could
possibly have been thinking,' -- would certainly be a good start.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

2-1-19

At least, New York is
finally getting something right. LOL. NBC News reports:

"Islan Nettles never met
James Dixon before the night he murdered her. It was a warm August evening
in 2013 — she and some friends were walking in Harlem when Dixon approached
and started flirting with Nettles. They continued to chat until one of
Dixon’s buddies told him Nettles was transgender. That revelation, he later
testified, sent Dixon into “a blind fury.” He threw Nettles to the ground
and brutally beat her. She was rushed to Harlem Hospital with a fractured
eye, nose, jaw and skull. By the time she arrived, Nettles, 21, was brain
dead. Soon after, she was taken off life support."

Murder.

"At trial Dixon didn’t
deny he murdered her, but insisted he was provoked: “I just don't wanna
be fooled,” he said in a taped confession. “My pride is at stake.” An indictment
didn’t come for more than a year. After initially pleading not guilty to
first- and second-degree manslaughter and first-degree assault, Dixon eventually
accepted a deal and was convicted of first-degree manslaughter. He could
have faced a 25-year prison sentence. Instead, he was given just 12."

Nazi justice. Achingly,
kangaroo.

"It's not enough. It's
a slap in the face," Islan Nettles' mother, Delores Nettles, told DNA Info
at the time. "He can go home after those 12 years and see his family… He'll
still be a young man in his 30s when he gets out. Islan is gone forever."
The case, and others like it, has prompted New York lawmakers to push for
legislation banning the so-called gay and trans panic defenses. Using the
strategy, a defense attorney will suggest her client wasn’t to blame for
his actions — the victim is the real culprit, because of her actual or
perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. While the gay or trans
panic isn’t really used on its own, it’s been employed in about half of
all U.S. states as part of claims of self-defense, of insanity or that
the defendant was “reasonably” provoked to violence — and it’s resulted
in lesser charges and sentences for perpetrators of violent hate crimes.
“The reality is LGBT people are in the fabric of our society, but we’re
at risk of being demonized,” New York Assemblyman Daniel O’Donnell, who
authored the bill in the Assembly, told NBC News."

Allowing such defense
is unconscionable. Encourages more such murders.

“Transgender and gender-nonconforming
people already face astronomical rates of violence, [but] they are doubly
victimized by courts that allow these unconscionable excuses for assault,”
Andy Marra of the Transgender Legal Defense and Education Fund explained.
“It is time to ban these defenses in New York once and for all.” There
are also efforts to get the panic defense prohibited in federal court:
Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., sponsored the Gay and Trans Panic Defense
Prohibition Act of 2018, claiming these strategies, “seek to partially
or completely excuse crimes such as murder and assault.” “Murdering or
assaulting anyone because of their sexual orientation or gender identity
is not a defense — it is a hate crime,” said Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass.,
a co-sponsor of the bill. “Legal loopholes written into our laws that seek
to justify violent attacks against our gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender
neighbors should never have existed in the first place.”

Ferociously pointedly,
if truly comfortable in your sexuality, why would you care what someone
else's happens to be?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

Trump is failing in Syria.
The
Washington Post reports:

"The four Americans killed
in Manbij, Syria on Wednesday — two soldiers, a Defense Department civilian
and a military contractor — matched the largest number of deaths from hostile
fire in a single incident overseas since Donald Trump became president.
The killings, in a suicide explosion claimed by the Islamic State, came
less than a month after Trump declared the militants defeated and ordered
that the 2,000 U.S. troops in Syria be withdrawn."

"Since then, the administration’s
strategy has been thrown into confusion, as Trump’s defense secretary resigned
in protest. The announced pace of withdrawal has varied, and Secretary
of State Mike Pompeo has sought aid from Arab allies. New conditions have
been set for the U.S. departure, even as the president has said he is determined
that the troops leave sooner rather than later."

Ongoing, miserable failure.
This jackass hasn't a clue.

"Other powers have rushed
to fill the coming void, including Turkey, Russia and the government of
Iranian-backed Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Manbij, wrested from the
militants by U.S.-backed Syrian Kurdish fighters and American air power
in 2016, is a nexus of the interests and conflicts of the many players
in Syria. As various interests squabbled in recent months over political
and military control of the town, 25 miles south of the Turkish border,
the Islamic State was the one actor that appeared to have been eliminated
from the contest. Instead, the bombing showed that it is likely to remain
a force to be reckoned with in Syria for the foreseeable future."

Certainly, seems so.

NBC News reports:

"American military leaders
are "constantly apologizing" for President Donald Trump's Syria withdrawal
plan, according to the commander who oversees a force of 65,000 U.S.-backed
fighters that's battling the Islamic State. “It was a joint war, but they
left us in the middle of the road,” said Gen. Mazlum Kobane, who is in
charge of the coalition of militias known as the Syrian Democratic Forces.
U.S. troops and Kurdish-led fighters were "brothers in arms" as partners
on the ground in the war against ISIS in Syria, he added."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

Trump is failing domestically
as well. The Washington Post reports:

"Rudolph W. Giuliani claimed
Wednesday night that he “never said there was no collusion” between President
Trump’s campaign and Russia leading up to the 2016 presidential election."

Congenital liar just like
the Trump nazi. Couldn't be, could it? LOL.

"In a remarkable, at times
contentious interview with CNN’s Chris Cuomo, the president’s lawyer was
accused of contradicting his own past statements about collusion as well
as what Trump and his supporters have repeatedly asserted. On Twitter,
Trump has used the phrase “no collusion” dozens of times, and a number
of those instances were direct denials that his campaign was involved with
the Russian government. Giuliani’s shocking declarations — several of which
Cuomo called out as being false — quickly sent the Internet into a tailspin
as many wondered what could have prompted the former New York mayor to
suddenly change course."

Clearly, Giuliani can't
withstand being challenged by the truth:

"The heated exchange,
one of many that occurred during the roughly 20-minute long interview,
began shortly after Giuliani raged about the amount of “false reporting”
on the Russia investigation. “Mr. Mayor, false reporting is saying that
nobody in the campaign had any contacts with Russia,” Cuomo responded.
“False reporting is saying that there has been no suggestion of any kind
of collusion between the campaign and any Russians.” Giuliani jumped in.
“You just misstated my position,” Giuliani said. “I never said there was
no collusion between the campaign, or between people in the campaign.”
Cuomo’s face contorted into an expression of disbelief. “Yes, you have,”
he shot back."

In the world of Republican
nazism, day is night, night is day, and shit smells perversely sweet.
All ass backwards. Devoid of reality.

"As recently as July,
Giuliani was asked by Fox News contributor Guy Benson, “Regardless of whether
collusion would be a crime, is it still the position of you and your client
that there was no collusion with the Russians whatsoever on behalf of the
Trump campaign?” “Correct,” Giuliani responded at the time. But on Wednesday,
Giuliani appeared to amend his previous comments on the subject. “I said
the president of the United States,” he protested, arguing that he had
only ever said Trump himself was not connected to any Russian meddling
in the 2016 election. “There is not a single bit of evidence the president
of the United States committed the only crime you can commit here, conspired
with the Russians to hack the DNC.”

Disingenuous bullshit.

"On CNN, Giuliani and
Cuomo then proceeded to tangle over the president’s past statements that
“nobody” associated with his campaign colluded. “He didn’t say nobody,
he said he didn’t,” Giuliani said of Trump, which Cuomo immediately noted
was not true."

Clearly, ole Rudy quickly
realized he egregiously f--ked up:

"Giuliani said Thursday
that his comments on CNN “have been misinterpreted” and that he wanted
to clarify them. “I represent only President Trump not the Trump campaign,”
he said in a statement. “There was no collusion by President Trump in any
way, shape or form. Likewise, I have no knowledge of any collusion by any
of the thousands of people who worked on the campaign.” The White House
did not immediately respond to a request for comment."

What could they possibly
say? LOL.

"Giuliani and Trump claim
'collusion isn't a crime.' President Trump's lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani
tried to downplay collusion by saying it isn't a crime and attacked the
special counsel on July 30. (Jenny Starrs /The Washington Post) In
December 2017, Trump adamantly told reporters outside the White House that
there was “absolutely no collusion, that has been proven.” On Twitter,
the president has been even more passionate when defending himself and
his campaign, repeatedly using words such as “hoax” and “witch hunt” to
describe the accusations and special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s ongoing
probe.

"Russia started their
anti-US campaign in 2014, long before I announced that I would run for
President. The results of the election were not impacted. The Trump campaign
did nothing wrong - no collusion!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
February 16, 2018"

Goes on and on.
Clearly, the heat is exponentially increasing. ... As the shit gets
closer and closer to hitting the fan.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

Tit for tat. NBC
News reports:

"President Donald Trump
said Thursday that he was canceling Speaker Nancy Pelosi's previously undisclosed
trip to war-torn Afghanistan Thursday, telling the woman second in line
to the presidency that she can't use a military jet but is welcome to fly
commercially if she wants. Trump’s letter, which cited the ongoing partial
government shutdown as the reason for his decision, comes a day after Pelosi
told the president he should postpone his Jan. 29 State of the Union address
or submit it in writing because the Department of Homeland Security hasn’t
been funded for the current year. “Due to the Shutdown, I am sorry to inform
you that your trip to Brussels, Egypt and Afghanistan has been postponed,”
Trump wrote. “In light of the 800,000 great American workers not receiving
pay, I am sure you would agree that postponing this public relations event
is totally appropriate.” Trump said in his letter that Pelosi could reschedule
the trip after the government has re-opened."

Think this appropriate
behavior of a U.S. president?

ABC News reports:

"House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
tried to salvage aspects of a congressional delegation to Afghanistan blocked
by President Donald Trump, but was unable to continue the trip on commercial
aircraft due to “increased" danger to officials on the trip, her spokesman
said Friday. In what was becoming an increasingly personal feud in their
political standoff over Trump's demand that congressional Democrats agree
to pay for his proposed border wall, the president on Thursday torpedoed
plans at the last minute for the delegation to utilize a military aircraft
to make the trip. The day before, Pelosi had called for a delay in Trump's
State of the Union Address, scheduled for Jan. 29, until after the government
shutdown ends. But overnight, before the rescheduled commercial flight,
the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service provided an updated
threat assessment, “detailing that the President announcing this sensitive
travel had significantly increased the danger to the delegation and to
the troops, security, and other officials supporting the trip,” according
to Pelosi spokesman Drew Hammill."

Clearly, Trump is responsible.

"An official familiar
with the trip's logistics told ABC News that security planners voiced concerns
about the idea of the speaker and her delegation flying to Afghanistan
outside of typical military-travel arrangements. Hammill said that
the White House also leaked plans for the delegation to continue on commercial
travel. "This morning, we learned that the Administration had leaked the
commercial travel plans as well,” Hammill noted. “In light of the grave
threats caused by the President’s action, the delegation has decided to
postpone the trip so as not to further endanger our troops and security
personnel, or the other travelers on the flights.”

Trump continues to lie.

"A senior Pelosi aide
pointed to “multiple administration” sources telling reporters Friday morning
that the delegation would continue on commercial aircraft. ABC News was
among those contacted. The White House denied that the administration leaked
word of the commercial travel plans. "When the Speaker of the House and
about 20 others from Capitol Hill decide to book their own commercial flights
to Afghanistan, the world is going to find out," an administration official
who refused to go on the record told ABC News. "The idea we would leak
anything that would put the safety and security of any American at risk
is a flat out lie."

None of you bastards would
know truth even if it figuratively bit you hard on the gluteus maximi.

"Pelosi was still in her
office in the U.S. Capitol when she received a letter from the president
Thursday afternoon, where Trump announced he was postponing the excursion
due to the shutdown. Trump suggested Pelosi fly commercially if she wished
to continue her travel. The delegation had loaded onto a bus operated by
the U.S. Air Force for the drive out to Joint Base Andrews. Instead, the
bus drove lawmakers to the East Plaza of the Capitol, where members disembarked
from the bus and walked into Pelosi's office. After huddling with Pelosi
for hours behind closed doors, Reps. Adam Schiff, Eliot Engel, Stephen
Lynch and Mark Takano -- who all had planned to join the trip - quietly
left the Capitol, declining to comment as they rolled suitcases through
the basement of the Capitol. Reps. Susan Davis and Elaina Luria were also
members of the delegation."

Goes on and on.
Trump is a petty jackass. His government is deliberately, concertedly,
determinedly dysfunctional.

NBC News reports:

"President Donald Trump
and the White House's revelation that Speaker Nancy Pelosi planned to travel
to Afghanistan with other House members put the group in danger and forced
them to scrap the trip entirely, Pelosi's spokesperson said Friday, pointing
to a formal government assessment. After Trump decided to block Pelosi,
D-Calif., and other lawmakers from using a military jet for their official
trip Thursday to visit troops overseas, the delegation was prepared to
fly commercially, but those plans were upended Friday, Pelosi spokesman
Drew Hammill said in a statement. The State Department’s Diplomatic Security
Service provided an updated threat assessment overnight "detailing that
the President announcing this sensitive travel had significantly increased
the danger to the delegation and to the troops, security, and other officials
supporting the trip," Hammill said."

NPR reports:

"The back and forth between
President Trump and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., over the partial
government shutdown escalated Friday, as Pelosi's office charged the White
House leaked plans for a congressional delegation to fly commercially to
Afghanistan. On Thursday, Trump said he was revoking a military flight
for the CODEL, suggesting Pelosi fly commercial instead. Pelosi was apparently
prepared to do just that. But in a statement released by her office Friday
morning, spokesman Drew Hammill said: "In the middle of the night, the
State Department's Diplomatic Security Service provided an updated threat
assessment detailing that the President announcing this sensitive travel
had significantly increased the danger to the delegation and to the troops,
security, and other officials supporting the trip," continued Hammill.
"This morning, we learned that the Administration had leaked the commercial
travel plans as well."

Trump and his associates
are congenital liars:

"The White House in a
statement released on background, called the charge "a flat out lie." "When
the Speaker of the house and about 20 others from Capitol Hill decide to
book their own commercial flights to Afghanistan, the world is going to
find out. The idea we would leak anything that would put the safety and
security of any American at risk is a flat out lie." Hammill said that
"in light of the grave threats caused by the President's action, the delegation
has decided to postpone the trip so as not to further endanger our troops
and security personnel, or the other travelers on the flights." After releasing
the statement Hammill added about the charge of leaking, "this morning,
we learned that the Administration had leaked the commercial travel plans
as well." He also responded to the administration saying it was a lie on
Twitter.

"Multiple admin sources
were telling Hill reporters early this morning that the Speaker Pelosi
delegation was flying commercially https://t.co/hf9c6N0NqP

— Drew Hammill (@Drew_Hammill)
January 18, 2019"

Here is precisely why
security for Pelosi is so important:

"As speaker, Pelosi is
the second in line to succeed the president, and travels with a security
team and usually on planes provided by the military. Pelosi's delegation
had planned to visit U.S. troops in Afghanistan. She has made several previous
trips there. The original plans also included a stop to meet with NATO
leaders in Brussels. Trump Thursday sent a letter to Pelosi calling the
trip "a public relations event," and said it should wait until the government
shutdown, now in its 28th day, ends. Trump's letter came a day after Pelosi
wrote to Trump, suggesting he postpone his planned State of the Union address
to Congress January 29th because of the shutdown."

Strange coincidence, no?
LOL.

Democrats continue to
stand up to the Trump nazi. NPR reports:

"With negotiations over
reopening the government at a standstill, President Trump offered to back
temporary protections for some immigrants brought to the country illegally
as children, many of whom are now adults, in exchange for funding for a
wall on the Southern border."

This useless, wasteful
wall
would have been permanent. Not so protections for DACA immigrants.
This achingly clueless nazi offered squat shit yet delusionally expected
Democrats to jump on it. Think he's not lost his mind?

"In a White House speech
on Saturday, Trump also offered to extend the Temporary Protected Status
program that blocks deportation of certain immigrants fleeing civil unrest
or natural disasters."

"However, even before
he spoke, the deal appeared to be dead on arrival with Democratic leaders.
They insisted Trump needs to open the government before beginning any negotiations
over border security or barrier funding."

Trump is directly responsible
for the shutdown. Beginning to cost him with his base. Fellow
Republicans are growing antsy. Surprised?

"President Donald Trump
lit into Democrats — and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in particular — in
a Sunday tweetstorm in which he appeared to threaten to increase deportations
of undocumented immigrants living in the United States and defended his
proposal to end the partial government shutdown."

Offered nothing.
More of the same.

"That offer, which Trump
presented Saturday in a White House address, included giving about 1 million
immigrants a three-year protection from deportation in exchange for $5.7
billion in funding for a wall along the U.S. southern border. Those immigrants
include 700,000 who were brought to the country illegally as children and
remain protected by the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program
and 300,000 who fled their countries and are facing the expiration of their
"temporary protected status." While Republicans praised the proposal and
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged to bring it before the full
Senate for a vote this week, Democrats panned the deal because it did not
ensure permanent protections for those two vulnerable populations and funded
a border wall they say is unnecessary. Additionally, some on the far-right
complained that the deal amounted to "amnesty" for those 1 million immigrants."

Clearly, day is night,
night is day, and shit smells perversely sweet in the world of the hopelessly
delusional Republican national socialist, fascist, nazi element.

"No, Amnesty is not a
part of my offer. It is a 3 year extension of DACA. Amnesty will be used
only on a much bigger deal, whether on immigration or something else. Likewise
there will be no big push to remove the 11,000,000 plus people who are
here illegally-but be careful Nancy!

"— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
January 20, 2019

"Nancy Pelosi and some
of the Democrats turned down my offer yesterday before I even got up to
speak. They don’t see crime & drugs, they only see 2020 - which they
are not going to win. Best economy! They should do the right thing for
the Country & allow people to go back to work.

"— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
January 20, 2019

Nancy Pelosi has behaved
so irrationally & has gone so far to the left that she has now officially
become a Radical Democrat. She is so petrified of the “lefties” in her
party that she has lost control...And by the way, clean up the streets
in San Francisco, they are disgusting!

"— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
January 20, 2019"

Irrationality?
Aren't you specifically talking about yourself, sir? Sound
remarkably like your forebear, Adolf Hitler, and all his psychotic rantings.

"Pelosi said in a Saturday
statement that the proposal was "a compilation of several previously rejected
initiatives, each of which is unacceptable and in total do not represent
a good faith effort to restore certainty to people’s lives." "It is unlikely
that any one of these provisions alone would pass the House, and taken
together, they are a nonstarter," she said. "For one thing, this proposal
does not include the permanent solution for the Dreamers and TPS recipients
that our country needs and supports."

Trump and his base remain
clearly, determinedly clueless.

"Nearly 800,000 federal
workers are affected by the partial government shutdown, which has gone
on for nearly a month and is the longest in U.S. history, with many working
without pay or furloughed from their jobs. Federal contractors, not included
in that number, are losing about $200 million a day."

All due to the psychotic
petulance of the Trump nazi. Think he hasn't lost his mind?
Get this:

"Trump also tweeted about
his upcoming State of the Union address, which Pelosi suggested he delay
or submit in writing on its originally agreed-upon date next week because
of security concerns related to the partial government shutdown. After
Pelosi sent Trump a letter last week urging the delay, the president pulled
the plug on a military plane that was set to take her and other members
of Congress to visit troops in Afghanistan. Trump said lawmakers should
remain in Washington in order to negotiate an end to the government shutdown."

Here's the psychotic clincher:

"On Sunday morning, Trump
wrote, "Nancy, I am still thinking about the State of the Union speech,
there are so many options — including doing it as per your written offer
(made during the Shutdown, security is no problem), and my written acceptance.
While a contract is a contract, I’ll get back to you soon!"

Think he isn't insane?
Hasn't lost his mind?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

Rising nazism throughout
the world is an increasingly dangerous problem. NPR reports:

"A new president is elected.
Within days of being sworn in, he pulls his country out of a U.N. migration
pact. His path to power has been pockmarked by disparaging comments about
women, including a congresswoman. His preferred choice for top posts are
members of the armed forces. When he appoints a fifth military official
to his cabinet, he makes the announcement via Twitter, his favored means
of communications. Sound familiar? These are the tactics of Brazil's new
president, Jair Bolsonaro, who was sworn in to office on Jan. 1, 2019.
On Tuesday, Bolsonaro will headline the World Economic Forum in Davos,
Switzerland, an annual gathering that attracts heads of state — 65 of them
this year — corporate CEOs and billionaire investors. Bolsonaro's nationalistic
rhetoric is in sharp contrast to a gathering that has long stood for globalization
and has pushed to strengthen international ties."

"His tactics may remind
many of the American president's. But it is actually symptomatic of a global
wave that started almost a decade ago and has only strengthened in recent
years. From Turkey and Hungary, to India and the Philippines, the voices
of nationalism and the far right have become dominant forces that begin
with the election of a charismatic, influential and powerful man."

Like Adolf Hitler.
Benito Mussolini. This problem, however, has gone on nearly a century
since the days of Benito Mussolini. Nothing new. Just resurrected
the last decade or so. Most dangerously, with the Trump nazi last
three years or so.

"Hungary, for instance,
was once a leader in the drive for democracy in East Europe. But after
strongman Viktor Orban rose to power as prime minister in 2010, Hungary's
democratic institutions have been dramatically weakened."

So too in Nazi America
under the Trump nazi.

"In his first year in
office, Orban's party amended the constitution 10 times. A wholly new constitution
was put in place. It whittled down the power of courts, changed how elections
are supervised and dramatically curbed media. New positions were created
and filled with Orban allies. The moves have been broadly condemned, including
by the European Parliament and the United States."

Think a secure Republican
nazi majority on the United States Supreme Court won't reek similar havoc?

"Hungary Has A Xenophobia
ProblemOrban is one of the strongest
symbols of this shift. He was one of the first Western leaders to endorse
Donald Trump and pursue friendly relations with Russian President Vladimir
Putin. Last year, Orban won a third term in a landslide victory after pledging
to create a "Christian homeland."

Raw nazism. Just
like right here in the United States.

"Similarly, in the Philippines,
President Rodrigo Duterte swept to power in 2016, promising to be tough
on drug criminals. As he carried out that promise, it resulted in the deaths
of thousands of alleged drug dealers across the country. Human rights groups
say the innocent poor have borne the brunt of these killings. Duterte uses
profanities with abandon, he has compared himself to Hitler and has insulted
world leaders. He too wants to change the constitution in Philippines."

At least, this fascist
bastard is candid about his nazism. Unlike the Trump nazi, his henchmen,
and sick sycophants.

"In almost each of these
instances, the leaders have swept into power on a promise to accelerate
economic growth and create new opportunities for those left behind by globalization.
But the promises are often laced with undercurrents of nationalism that
harp on race or religion and closing borders. These leaders often have
a strong base of support. And often they have a pro-business agenda, which
stock markets cheer. The American stock market has been on a roller coaster
— calmer now after a rough ride at the end of the year. But for many months
after Trump's election, investors gave the U.S. president a clear thumbs
up. Brazil's investors are doing the same, and Bolsonaro has tweeted about
it. Last year, Trump told the crowd at Davos: "I'm here to deliver a simple
message: There has never been a better time to hire, to build, to invest
and to grow in the United States. America is open for business." Bolsonaro
will likely echo the same sentiments. Trump also said: "America First does
not mean America alone." Undoubtedly, Bolsonaro believes in Brazil First.
And Orban in Hungary First. Likewise, Erdogan for Turkey and Modi for India.
But if it is everyone for himself, and keep the others out, who really
wins?"

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

California stands up to
the Trump nazi. NPR reports:

"Gov. Gavin Newsom says
the Trump administration has told states they can't offer unemployment
benefits to federal employees who are required to report to work without
pay during the government shutdown. Newsom called a letter sent to states
by the U.S. Department of Labor "jaw-dropping and extraordinary" as he
met with TSA workers at the Sacramento International Airport Thursday afternoon.
"So, the good news is, we're going to do it, and shame on them." The governor
explained that California will offer the workers unemployment coverage,
despite the federal government telling the state it can't do so for workers
still on the job. Newsom says he believes California is on strong legal
footing."

Hard to believe Trump
can force federal employees to go to work and not be paid.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

Noose figuratively tightens.
NBC News reports:

"Calls for President Donald
Trump's impeachment grew among Democrats on Friday after a report said
he had directed Michael Cohen, his personal lawyer and fixer at the time,
to lie to Congress about negotiations to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.
BuzzFeed News on Thursday evening reported that Cohen told special counsel
Robert Mueller the president personally instructed him to lie to Congressional
investigators in order to minimize links between Trump and his Moscow building
project, citing two federal law enforcement officials involved in an investigation
of the matter. The report also alleged that Cohen was directed to give
a false impression that the project had ended before it actually did. NBC
News has not independently confirmed this report. Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif.,
the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, called the allegation
the “most serious to date” Thursday evening and said that his committee
would look into the matter. “The allegation that the President of the United
States may have suborned perjury before our committee in an effort to curtail
the investigation and cover up his business dealings with Russia is among
the most serious to date,” Schiff said in a tweet. “We will do what’s necessary
to find out if it’s true.”

NBC News reports:

“President Donald Trump
directed his longtime attorney Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about negotiations
to build a Trump Tower in Moscow, according to two federal law enforcement
officials involved in an investigation of the matter,” Buzzfeed News reported
last night. Importantly, the article adds, “The special counsel’s office
learned about Trump’s directive for Cohen to lie to Congress through interviews
with multiple witnesses from the Trump Organization and internal company
emails, text messages, and a cache of other documents. Cohen then acknowledged
those instructions during his interviews with that office.” NBC News has
not yet confirmed the Buzzfeed report. But if true — and if Mueller does
have the receipts — why is this news significant? Well, in 1974, the first
article of impeachment against Richard Nixon was obstruction of justice
for – among other things – “approving, condoning, acquiescing in, and counseling
witnesses with respect to the giving of false or misleading statements
to lawfully authorized investigative officers and employees of the United
States.” It also included approving/condoning/counseling “false or misleading
testimony in duly instituted judicial and congressional proceedings.” In
1998, the first article of impeachment against Bill Clinton included “efforts
to influence the testimony of witnesses and to impede the discovery of
evidence.”

NPR reports:

"President Trump's former
personal attorney Michael Cohen acknowledged on Thursday that he schemed
to rig online polls that sought to make Trump seem like a more plausible
presidential candidate. The story was first reported by The Wall Street
Journal. In a tweet following the report, Cohen said he sought to help
Trump's political aspirations, having been directed by the candidate.

"As for the @WSJ article
on poll rigging, what I did was at the direction of and for the sole benefit
of @realDonaldTrump @POTUS. I truly regret my blind loyalty to a man who
doesn’t deserve it.

— Michael Cohen (@MichaelCohen212)
January 17, 2019"

CBS News reports:

"President Trump instructed
his longtime personal lawyer Michael Cohen to lie to Congress about the
Moscow Trump Tower talks, BuzzFeed reported late Thursday, citing
two federal law enforcement officials involved in investigating the case.
The story drew immediate harsh reactions from Democratic lawmakers and
a denial from Trump attorney Rudy Giuliani. CBS News has not independently
confirmed the BuzzFeed account. According to the online news site, Mr.
Trump also backed a plan Cohen set up to visit Russia during the presidential
campaign to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin about the tower
negotiations. And the BuzzFeed sources said Mr. Trump and his children,
Ivanka Trump and Donald Trump Jr., got "regular, detailed updates" on the
development from Cohen, who led the project for them. During the campaign,
Mr. Trump repeatedly and forcefully denied having any business dealings
with Moscow. But in November, Cohen pleaded guilty to one count of making
a false statement to Congress regarding work he did on the Moscow Trump
Tower push. The plea indicated that discussions extended much longer into
the 2016 presidential campaign than Cohen had said -- into June 2016. White
House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley would not explicitly deny the
report that Mr. Trump told Cohen to lie to Congress, when pressed repeatedly
by Fox News Friday morning. "I'm not going to give any credence or credibility
to Michael Cohen," Gidley said. After the interview on the White House
North Lawn, Gidley walked past a swarm of reporters asking why he wouldn't
simply deny the report."

Noose is figuratively
tightening.

"BuzzFeed's sources said
Cohen "told (Special Counsel Robert Mueller) that after the election, the
president personally instructed him to lie — by claiming that negotiations
ended months earlier than they actually did — in order to obscure Trump's
involvement." Cohen had claimed the talks ended in January 2016. According
to BuzzFeed, Mueller's office "learned about Trump's directive for Cohen
to lie to Congress through interviews with multiple witnesses from the
Trump Organization and internal company emails, text messages, and a cache
of other documents. Cohen then acknowledged those instructions during his
interviews with that office." BuzzFeed says, "Cohen's testimony marks a
significant new frontier: It is the first known example of Trump explicitly
telling a subordinate to lie directly about his own dealings with Russia."
Cohen legal adviser Lanny Davis said, "Out of respect for Mr. Mueller's
and the Office of Special Counsel's investigation, Mr. Cohen declined to
respond to the questions asked by the reporters and so (do) I." Peter Mirijanian,
a spokesperson for Abbe Lowell, ethics counsel for Ivanka Trump, said the
Trump Organization considered projects around the world "and nothing was
different or wrong about one that might be in Russia," but distanced the
president's eldest daughter from the matter."

Truth has been a moving
target in Nazi America quite some time now. Above news sources
do the best they can. Certainly, made it more than clear they were
not able to confirm the BuzzFeed story yet believed it important enough
to report. Consider the following.

NBC News reports:

"Special counsel Robert
Mueller's office issued a rare public statement Friday night that disputes
a BuzzFeed News report that President Donald Trump had directed Michael
Cohen to lie to Congress. BuzzFeed News on Thursday evening reported that
Cohen told special counsel Robert Mueller the president personally instructed
him to lie to Congressional investigators in order to minimize links between
Trump and his Moscow building project, citing two federal law enforcement
officials involved in an investigation of the matter. The report also alleged
that Cohen was directed to give a false impression that the project had
ended before it actually did. NBC News has not independently confirmed
this report."

All above sources made
that quite clear.

"On Friday evening, a
full day after the story appeared, the special counsel's office issued
a statement. “BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the Special
Counsel’s Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained
by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s Congressional testimony are not
accurate," the statement said."

Stunning, isn't it?
First time Mueller's office has responded to a news report. Interestingly,
BuzzFeed has not backed down:

"BuzzFeed's editor-in-chief,
Ben Smith, responded to the special counsel’s statement on Twitter, saying,
“We stand by our reporting and the sources he informed it.” He asked the
special counsel to make clear what he is disputing.

"In response to the statement
tonight from the Special Counsel's spokesman: We stand by our reporting
and the sources who informed it, and we urge the Special Counsel to make
clear what he's disputing.

— Ben Smith (@BuzzFeedBen)
January 19, 2019"

Mueller needs to respond.
Quickly. The public is entitled to know the truth.

"After the story was published
Thursday evening, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., the chairman of the House
Intelligence Committee, called the allegation the “most serious to date”
and said that his committee would look into the matter.

“The allegation that the
President of the United States may have suborned perjury before our committee
in an effort to curtail the investigation and cover up his business dealings
with Russia is among the most serious to date,” Schiff said in a tweet.
“We will do what’s necessary to find out if it’s true.”

Precisely the function
of Congress.

"Schiff added in a formal
statement on Friday that his committee is working to secure documents and
additional witness testimony to look into the Trump Tower Moscow deal.
"As a counterintelligence concern of the greatest magnitude, and given
that these alleged efforts were intended to interfere with our investigation,
our Committee is determined to get to the bottom of this and follow the
evidence wherever it may lead," he said."

About time Congress rose
to the occasion. Exercised oversight. No matter the truth.
No matter who's inconvenienced, placed in legal jeopardy.

"The White House has referred
inquiries to the outside legal team. Rudy Giuliani, the president’s personal
lawyer, said in a statement to NBC News on Friday that, "If you believe
Cohen, I can get you a great deal on the Brooklyn Bridge." Guiliani later
refuted the allegations in an additional statement to NBC News: "Any suggestion
— from any source — that the President counseled Michael Cohen to lie is
categorically false. Michael Cohen is a convicted criminal and a liar.
To quote the prosecutors, he has traded on 'a pattern of lies and dishonesty
over an extended period of time' and for that 'he is going to pay a very,
very serious price.' Today's claims are just more made-up lies born of
Michael Cohen's malice and desperation, in an effort to reduce his sentence."

"Trump, in his first reaction
to the report, tweeted a quote from a Fox News correspondent and added
that Cohen is "lying to reduce his jail time!" He also included an apparent
reference to Cohen's father-in-law, who reportedly loaned roughly $20 million
to a Chicago cab mogul who was mentioned in FBI search warrants for Cohen."

Must be kept in mind both
Guiliani and Trump are congenital liars. Yet, still should be heard.

"Mark Warner, D-Va, vice
chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, said that the committee
has invited Cohen back to in early February to address his previous testimony
and the Buzzfeed report. "We don’t know whether the new report about Cohen
being told to lie by the president is true or not, we'll have to ask Mr.
Cohen that, but it sure as heck explains why Michael Cohen lied in earlier
testimony to our committee, and one of the reasons why he’s being sentenced
on a going forward basis," he said."

If Cohen lies under oath,
indict the son of a bitch.

"Senate Minority Leader
Chuck Schumer said the allegations underscore the need to have Mueller's
investigation to proceed unimpeded. "I’ve seen the article and if it’s
accurate, I would say the Mueller investigation, all the more reason, has
to proceed," he said."

No question. Mueller
needs to get a move on. Time for resolution no matter the truth.
No matter whose ox gets figuratively gored.

NPR reports:

"BuzzFeed's Editor in
Chief Ben Smith told All Things Considered on Friday night that his organization
stands by its story. Smith said he stands behind his reporters and noted
that BuzzFeed broke another story about the Russia project, that the Trump
Organization planned to offer President Vladimir Putin the penthouse in
the projected hotel. He said the reporters based their story on information
from "federal law enforcement officials involved in the investigation,
and well placed to know what's going on inside it." He said the sources
have "a remarkable track record" with these reporters. Smith said BuzzFeed
is eager to hear specifically what the special counsel disputes in the
article. He said it's hard to respond to the statement the special counsel
released, which Smith described as "not a full-throated denial."

ABC News reports:

"The article, posted Thursday
night on Buzzfeed, suggests that President Donald Trump directed Michael
Cohen, his former personal attorney and fixer, to lie in his testimony
to Congress and that special counsel Robert Mueller has evidence to support
that claim. “BuzzFeed’s description of specific statements to the Special
Counsel’s Office, and characterization of documents and testimony obtained
by this office, regarding Michael Cohen’s Congressional testimony are not
accurate,” special counsel spokesman Peter Carr said Friday evening in
a brief statement to ABC News.

"BuzzFeed editor-in-chief
Ben Smith stood by the organization's reporting on Friday tweeting "In
response to the statement tonight from the Special Counsel's spokesman:
We stand by our reporting and the sources who informed it, and we urge
the Special Counsel to make clear what he's disputing." It was a position
he reiterated later during an appearance on CNN."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

Continued attack on reproductive
freedom. NPR reports:

"On Friday, as they have
for decades, anti-abortion rights activists are marching through Washington,
D.C., to the U.S. Supreme Court – a location that symbolizes the long-held
goal of reversing the Roe v. Wade decision that legalized the procedure
nationwide in 1973. Vice President Mike Pence phoned into the rally Friday
morning, thanking attendees for "standing for life" and calling on them
to "be prepared to defend life."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

More insanity from the
Pence nazi. NBC News reports:

"Vice President Mike Pence
on Thursday addressed news coverage and criticism regarding his wife’s
decision to return to teaching at a Virginia elementary school that explicitly
bars LGBTQ employees and students. “My wife and I have been in the public
eye for quite a while, we're used to the criticism,” Pence said in an interview
with EWTN, a cable network that offers “news from a Catholic perspective."
But, he added, “to see major news organizations attacking Christian education
is deeply offensive to us.” “We have a rich tradition in America of Christian
education, and frankly religious education broadly defined,” he continued.
“We'll let the other critics roll off our back, but this criticism of Christian
education in America should stop.”

Who the hell are you religious
nazis to force your perverse ideological and religious views on all through
outrageously unconstitutional laws and determined, concerted, bastardization
of the United States Constitution?

"The school’s employment
application asks applicants to initial a passage stating that they will
"live a personal life of moral purity.” The “moral misconduct” that disqualifies
potential employees includes “heterosexual activity outside of marriage
(e.g., premarital sex, cohabitation, extramarital sex), homosexual or lesbian
sexual activity, polygamy, transgender identity, any other violation of
the unique roles of male and female, sexual harassment, use or viewing
of pornographic material or websites, and sexual abuse or improprieties
toward minors as defined by Scripture and federal or state law.” Virginia,
like most states, has no statewide legislation explicitly prohibiting private
employers from discriminating based on sexual orientation or gender identity."

Legalized discrimination
by the nazi element determined to force its perverse ideological and religious
views on all. Raw nazism.

"A parent agreement posted
on the school’s website states that Immanuel Christian School reserves
the right to “refuse admission” or “discontinue enrollment” of a student
if “the atmosphere or conduct within a particular home, the activities
of a parent or guardian, or the activities of the student are counter to,
or are in opposition to, the biblical lifestyle the school teaches.” The
prohibited conduct and activities include “sexual immorality,” “homosexual
activity or bi-sexual activity.”

Raw nazism. Unabashed.

"The parent agreement
cites Leviticus 20:13, a Bible passage that states, "If a man has sexual
relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what
is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their
own heads."

Justification of murder.
Un-American. Right Wing Nazi.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"A federal court on Wednesday
ruled against a lesbian couple who brought a lawsuit against a Missouri
retirement home that rejected the women's apartment application because
their marriage is not "understood in the Bible.” Bev Nance, 68, and Mary
Walsh, 72, married a decade ago in Massachusetts and have been in a committed
relationship for roughly 40 years. When they applied to move into the Friendship
Village senior living facility, they did so “because it is in their community,
they have friends there, and it offers services that would allow them to
stay together there for the rest of their lives,” said Julie Wilensky,
an attorney representing the couple. But once Friendship Village staff
found that Nance and Walsh are married, they told the couple that they
were not allowed to move in, because the home did not condone homosexuality.
The letter they received said that the only married couples they accepted
were those in unions between "one man and one woman." The couple sued,
alleging “discrimination on the basis of sex,” and their case was finally
decided this week by a federal court in Missouri, which found “sexual orientation
rather than sex lies at the heart of Plaintiffs’ claims.” LGBTQ groups
decried the outcome, and the couple’s lawyers said “we disagree with the
court’s decision, and our clients are considering next steps.”

Cowardly fail to financially
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rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

Trump's shorts in a wad.
NPR reports:

"The Trump administration
is appealing a federal judge's ruling that blocks plans to add a controversial
citizenship question to the 2020 census."

Surprise, surprise.
LOL.

"The Justice Department
filed a court notice Thursday that says the administration is asking the
2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals to review the first major court decision
about the question. That ruling came out of two of the multiple lawsuits
by more than two dozen states, cities and other groups that want the question
removed. The question asks, "Is this person a citizen of the United States?"
The administration's move comes two days after U.S. District Judge Jesse
Furman issued an opinion for the two lead cases in New York. Furman concluded
the decision by Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, who oversees the Census
Bureau, to add a question about U.S. citizenship to census forms was "unlawful"
and made "a veritable smorgasbord of classic, clear-cut" violations of
the Administrative Procedure Act. The administration was expected to appeal
Furman's ruling, and the legal battle appears to be headed ultimately to
the Supreme Court. The Justice Department's notice of appeal, however,
does not specify the grounds on which the administration is basing its
appeal to the 2nd Circuit."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

More egregious waste of
taxpayer money by the Trump nazi. NPR reports:

"President Trump unveiled
a sweeping plan Thursday to defend the U.S. and its allies from missile
attack. The plan is the first update to the nation's missile defense strategy
in nearly a decade, but in many ways it is reminiscent of President Ronald
Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative, a pie-in-the-sky program that was
later dubbed "Star Wars." The report outlines a battery of new technologies
— including lasers and space-based systems — that the Pentagon wants to
combat what it deems to be a growing missile threat. It also calls for
adding 20 interceptor missiles to an existing system of 44 interceptors
based in Fort Greely, Alaska. "Our goal is simple," Trump said at a Pentagon
briefing on Thursday. "To ensure that we can detect and destroy any missile
launched against the United States anywhere, anytime, anyplace." Critics
were quick to point out that meeting this goal would cost many billions
of dollars. "It would be incredibly costly," says Laura Grego, a physicist
at the Union of Concerned Scientists who tracks missile defense programs.
Grego says that Trump's comments hark back to the days of Reagan's Strategic
Defense Initiative. That program cost billions, and in the end, its vision
of a space-based blanket defense against nuclear attack proved to be too
technically challenging."

Cowardly fail to financially
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rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

Federal judge rights a
wrong. NPR reports:

"A federal judge has struck
down controversial restrictions on early voting in Wisconsin that were
passed during the state Legislature's lame-duck session last month. The
restrictions limited early voting in Wisconsin to the two weeks before
an election. In recent years, cities including the Democratic strongholds
of Milwaukee and Madison have offered several weeks of early voting. Former
Republican Gov. Scott Walker signed the new restrictions into law roughly
three weeks before he was to leave office and be replaced by Democrat Tony
Evers. The same lame-duck session of the Legislature also sought to curb
Evers' powers, in a move widely criticized as a power play."

Once in awhile, there
is justice. This is one of them.

"Liberal advocacy group
One Wisconsin Now joined with the National Redistricting Foundation, an
arm of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee headed by former
U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, to argue that the new restrictions violated
a 2016 federal ruling on election laws in Wisconsin. The groups appealed
to the judge in that case, Judge James Peterson of the Western District
of Wisconsin, to block the new law. Peterson issued a favorable ruling
for the groups on Thursday afternoon. "This is not a close question," Peterson
wrote in his decision. The judge also struck down a law passed during the
lame duck session that requires a 2-year expiration date on student IDs
used for identification at the polls, as well as a law that limits the
use of receipts as valid voter identification for individuals who are involved
in a sometimes lengthy process of getting a valid ID without a birth certificate."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

More of the same.
NBC News reports:

"Trump administration
officials weighed speeding up the deportation of migrant children by denying
them their legal right to asylum hearings after separating them from their
parents, according to comments on a late 2017 draft of what became the
administration's family separation policy obtained by NBC News. The draft
also shows officials wanted to specifically target parents in migrant families
for increased prosecutions, contradicting the administration's previous
statements. In June, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen
Nielsen said the administration did "not have a policy of separating families
at the border" but was simply enforcing existing law. The authors noted
that the "increase in prosecutions would be reported by the media and it
would have a substantial deterrent effect."

ABC News reports:

"Democratic Sen. Jeff
Merkley on Friday asked the FBI to open a perjury investigation into Homeland
Security Kirstjen Nielsen following the leak of an internal draft 2017
document that detailed the administration's legal options for separating
families as a way to curb illegal immigration at the border. The memo challenges
the assertion by Nielsen last June on Twitter and in media briefings saying
"we do not have a policy of separating families at the border. Period."
The Dec. 16, 2017, document, provided by Merkley's office, which said it
received it from a whistleblower, appears to be an internal memo on legal
options to address families who were arriving at the border. Among the
options listed: the "prosecution of family units" and "separate family
units."

"We do not have a policy
of separating families at the border. Period.

— Sec. Kirstjen Nielsen
(@SecNielsen) June 17, 2018"

Certainly, needs to be
investigated. Get this:

"Because of the large
number of violators, not all parents could be criminally prosecuted," the
memo noted. "However, the increase in prosecutions would be reported by
the media and it would have a substantial deterrent effect.” What would
happen to their children? The memo said they would become “unaccompanied
minors,” or UACs. “This will require close coordination with (Health and
Human Services), to ensure that sufficient capacity is available to detain
the UACs," the document stated. Merkley notes that Nielsen made similar
comments in congressional testimony, at one point telling the House Judiciary
Committee: "I'm not a liar. We've never had a policy of family separation."

Jesus Christ. Give
me a break. Day is night, night is day, and shit smells perversely
sweet in the highly-distorted world of these achingly delusional, determinedly
clueless assholes.

"Compelling new evidence
has emerged revealing that high-level Department of Homeland Security officials
were secretly and actively developing a new policy and legal framework
for separating families as far back as December 2017," Merkley, from Oregon,
wrote in a letter to FBI Director Christopher Wray. On Thursday, a spokeswoman
for DHS said the document was intended to examine the administration's
options. The spokeswoman did not immediately respond to Merkley's request
for a perjury inquiry. “The Trump administration has made clear that all
legal options are on the table to enforce the rule of law, rein in mass
unchecked illegal immigration, and defend our borders," said spokeswoman
Katie Waldman in an emailed statement."

Legal or illegal.
LOL. Matters not to these goddamned nazis.

"Waldman said the administration
saw an uptick of border arrests, which it blamed on a lack of a border
wall and a court settlement that prohibits detention of children for longer
than 20 days. Officials have said previously they believe that court settlement,
known as the Flores Agreement, encouraged people to travel with minors.
"In part we were predicting -- and trying to prevent -- the exact humanitarian
and security crisis we are confronted by now," Waldman said. "It would
be malpractice to not seriously examine every single avenue to gain operational
control of the border and ensure that those who are entering our country
have a legal right to be here."

This psychotic nazi in
the Oval Office delusionally believes he enjoys dictatorial power.
Remains an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

Despite all criticism
ole George "The Tush" Bush has deservedly received in this publication
over the years, once in awhile, he does do the right thing.
LOL. ABC News reports:

"George W. Bush played
pizza delivery man for a day as he handed out several boxes of pies to
his Secret Service detail -- currently working without pay during the partial
government shutdown. The 43rd president of the United States also made
a political statement, an unusual occurrence in his time since stepping
away from the office at the same time. Bush, along with first lady Laura,
thanked the Secret Service personnel in an Instagram post Friday afternoon.
He's seen carrying three pizzas, with another three boxes on the way, for
the unpaid personal protectors of the former president.

"@LauraWBush and I are
grateful to our Secret Service personnel and the thousands of Federal employees
who are working hard for our country without a paycheck. And we thank our
fellow citizens who are supporting them. It’s time for leaders on both
sides to put politics aside, come together, and end this shutdown.

"As the shutdown enters
its 29th day on Saturday, Secret Service personnel are among the hundreds
of thousands who aren't being paid. Don Mihalek, the Secret Service representative
to the Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association, confirmed to ABC News
that cash advances are not being given out and official credit cards are
not being paid for through government invoice channels. "The way that works
is FBI agents have an FBI credit card but they have to pay the bill," FBI
Agents Association spokesperson Paul Nathanson told ABC News. "These agents
have to buy tickets to go overseas and they can't get reimbursed for that
money. So not only are they not getting paid, they're putting out money
for their jobs and not getting it back until the government opens." All
former presidents have lifetime Secret Service details thanks to a law
signed by President Barack Obama in January 2013. It had been rescinded
to just 10 years post-office in 1997."

All former presidents
should have Secret Service protection for life.

Cowardly fail to financially
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rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

With the United States
Supreme Court now securely Republican national socialist, fascist, nazi
in majority, delusionally believe these bastards will stand up for racial
equality? CNN reports:

"One is called the "child
of the storm." Another is "the crown jewel." The third was dubbed "the
voice of justice." They are the three great laws of the civil rights movement:
the 1964 Civil Rights Act, the 1965 Voting Rights Act and the Fair Housing
Act of 1968. A new conservative bloc on the Supreme Court though may soon
treat them as something else: outdated "racial entitlements" that need
to be put back in their place."

Already happening.
Quite some time, as our formerly great country embraces nazism.

"That's the dreaded future
some experts envision for these landmark laws now that Justice Brett Kavanaugh
has joined the Supreme Court. They warn that, for the first time, the high
court has five firmly conservative judges who were groomed to dismantle
the legal legacy of these laws, which have stood for 50 years."

These pieces of shit are
not
'conservatives,' they're fascists. Barry Goldwater was a conservative.
So was Bill Buckley. Wake up. We're going backwards.
Have been quite some time. Dream on life support, all but dead.

Cowardly fail to financially
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rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"The Supreme Court on
Tuesday allowed the Trump administration to go ahead, for now, with its
plan to ban transgender military service."

Clearly, the LGBTQ community,
-- in the eyes of our national socialist, fascist, nazi Supreme Court,
is now no more than a community of second class citizens. -- Legalized
homophobia by the nazi element on the Republican-owned U.S. Supreme Court.

"The court, without comment,
granted a request from the Justice Department to allow the government to
enforce the ban while challenges to the policy play out in the lower courts.
The earliest the Supreme Court could act on the issue would be during its
next term, which begins in October."

The Supreme Court, with
its GOP nazi national socialist majority, clearly now represents only the
fascist element in our formerly great country.

"In a July 2017 tweet,
President Donald Trump announced that he would end a policy, begun during
the Obama administration, that allows transgender men and women to serve
openly and to have the government pay for sex-reassignment surgery.

"After consultation with
my generals and military experts, please be advised that the United States
government will not accept or allow transgender individuals to serve in
any capacity," he said. "Our military must be focused on decisive and overwhelming
victory and cannot be burdened with the tremendous medical costs and disruption
that transgender in the military would entail."

Raw nazism now rubber
stamped by his national socialist, Republican-owned Supreme Court in favor
of the nazi now occupying the Oval Office.

"Six months later, then-Defense
Secretary James Mattis announced a revised policy that would allow transgender
individuals in the military, provided that they served "in their biological
sex" and did not seek gender-transition surgery."

Jesus Christ. Homophobia
run wild.

"Federal district court
judges in California, Washington, D.C., and Washington state issued orders
blocking the policy nationwide. They said it most likely amounted to unconstitutional
discrimination and rejected the administration's claims that military readiness
was at issue. "There is absolutely no support for the claim that the ongoing
service of transgender people would have any negative effect on the military
at all. In fact, there is considerable evidence that it is the discharge
and banning of such individuals that would have such effects," wrote Judge
Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the court in Washington, D.C."

She's right. No
question. All Trump is doing is imposing the perverse ideology and
religious views of his sick sycophant base on the rest of the country.
Raw nazism.

"The Justice Department
went to the Supreme Court in November to urge that the justices take up
the issue even before the cases had gone through the federal appeals courts
— a request the Supreme Court grants very rarely. A month later, the government
as a fallback asked the court to narrow the effect of the lower court rulings
so that they applied only to the individuals who sued and not to the entire
country."

Clearly, this nazi-owned
Supreme Court no longer serves the needs of the entire country, -- only
the national socialist, fascist, nazi element.

"The cases involve "a
matter of imperative public importance: the authority of the U.S. military
to determine who may serve in the nation's armed forces," Solicitor General
Noel Francisco told the court."

Absolute horse shit.
It's not up to the military to determine who serves and who doesn't.
The military does not run itself. The Constitution specifies civilian
oversight centered in the President. We now have a national socialist,
fascist, nazi piece of human excrement in the Oval Office. The Supreme
Court is supposed to, along with Congress, exercise a check and balance
to a lunatic Chief Executive. Clearly, both branches are not doing
so. They're letting the nazi run wild.

"The secretary of defense
determined that individuals with a history of the medical condition gender
dysphoria should be presumptively disqualified from military service, particularly
if they have undergone the treatment of gender transition or seek to do
so."

The question is why?
There is no legitimate medical or psychiatric reason to do so. What
we have here is the Nazi Right desperately trying to force its perverse
ideological and religious views on the rest of the country. This
is of great concern to those of us who are not members of the LGBTQ community.
Question must be asked who's next? ... Those of us unwilling to goose
step along with their goddamned perverse ideological and religious views?
Slippery slope to say nothing of the egregious injustice done to the LGBTQ
community. No more than raw nazism.

"Opponents of the ban
urged the court to leave the lower court orders in place that prevent enforcement
of the Trump administration's proposed policy change. The Supreme Court
on Tuesday also opted to stay out of several other high-profile legal battles,
which included taking no action Tuesday on the future of the Deferred Action
for Childhood Arrivals program, a move that requires the government to
keep the program going for at least 10 more months. The justices also took
no action on whether federal laws prohibiting sex discrimination on the
job also apply to sexual orientation. Federal appeals courts are divided
on the question."

None of this is surprising
now that the Kavanaugh nazi gives the Supreme Court a solid 5-4 majority.

"Some have ruled that
in passing the 1964 Civil Rights Act, Congress did not intend to include
same-sex bias when it prohibited job discrimination on the basis of race,
sex and other characteristics. But other courts have said discriminating
against someone because of sexual orientation is a form of sex discrimination.
Civil rights groups say there's no need to change the law, arguing that
it already bans discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation."

No question. Yet,
Republican nazis are doing all they can to bastardize the law for ideological
and religious reasons. The following is equally chilling:

"In other action Tuesday,
the justices said they would not hear Indiana's effort to revive a state
law intended to restrict access to abortion. Passed in 2016 and signed
by then-Gov. Mike Pence, the law prohibited what the state called discriminatory
abortions — those sought because of characteristics of the fetus, including
gender, race or a diagnosis of Down syndrome or other defect."

Not their uterus.
None
of their goddamned business.

"Supporters of the measure
said the law responded to medical developments that allow women to choose
which child to bear, an option the state said was not contemplated at the
time of the 1973 Roe v. Wade decision. But Planned Parenthood said it was
an unconstitutional restriction on abortion rights, and lower courts agreed,
preventing the law from taking effect."

The assault on liberty,
all civil and constitutional rights by nazis in the Republican Party, is
far more than chilling. A direct assault on our democratic republic.
... Hear the rumble? An unwanted dreaded second American revolution
catastrophically looming.

NPR reports:

"The Supreme Court has
reinstated President Trump's ban on transgender service members in the
military, granting a stay on two lower courts' injunctions that had blocked
the president's policy. The court voted 5-4 margin, reflecting the conservative
majority."

Nazi majority.

"The court's decision
allows the Pentagon to bar transgender people from joining or, in some
circumstances, remaining in the military while the lower-court rulings
that had blocked the policy are appealed. The justices did not allow the
Trump administration to leapfrog the appeals court, as it had requested.
The two cases — Trump v. Karnoski and Trump v. Stockman — are currently
working their way through the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.
In both of those cases, Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen Breyer, Sonia
Sotomayor and Elena Kagan would have maintained a stay on the ban, the
Supreme Court order reads. The transgender ban is being revived more than
a year after a U.S. district judge in Washington, D.C., ruled that trans
members of the military had "a strong case that the president's ban would
violate their Fifth Amendment rights," as NPR reported in October of 2017."

Matters not to the Republican
nazis on the Court. The national socialist, fascist bastards do as
they please.

"The Human Rights Campaign,
which is involved in the Karnoski case, condemned the Supreme Court's decision,
saying it "thrusts this administration's discriminatory agenda onto a military
that clearly doesn't want it, and does so at the expense of transgender
people's careers and service."

Republican nazis on the
Court couldn't care less. -- Only legislating their outrageously
perverse ideological and religious views from the bench.

"Trump announced his ban
abruptly in the summer of 2017, saying in a series of tweets that "the
United States Government will not accept or allow...... ....Transgender
individuals to serve in any capacity in the U.S. Military." The ban seemed
to take Defense Department officials by surprise, sparking confusion despite
Trump's assertion that he had consulted with "with my Generals and military
experts."

Apparently, because the
nazi bastard in the Oval Office had consulted with no one other than himself
and his sick sycophant base.

"Trump's ban was a sharp
reversal of a Pentagon policy that was announced in June of 2016, when
former Defense Secretary Ash Carter said, "Effective immediately, transgender
Americans may serve openly, and they can no longer be discharged or otherwise
separated from the military just for being transgender." At the time, researchers
at RAND estimated there were as many as 7,000 active-duty transgender servicemembers,
with up to 4,000 more in the reserves. That Obama-era policy was hailed
as ending an era of legal and professional limbo for trans people in the
U.S. armed service; Carter said the decision was made out of a desire to
attract "all talent possible" to serve in the military. Because of that
policy and the lower court's injunction, the first openly trans people
were able to join the U.S. military on Jan. 1, 2018. But their status is
once again in jeopardy. Tuesday's order states that if the 9th Circuit
court rules against the ban, the prohibition on trans members of the military
would remain in effect until the Supreme Court justices either deny an
application to hear the case (if such an application is made) or rules
against the Trump administration's position."

Nazi justice by a failed
United States Supreme Court on behalf of its fuhrer, the Trump nazi.
A raucous boot clicking, goose stepping, treasonous, treacherous, traitorous
Sieg
Heil!, Mr. 'President?'

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

About time the Christian
community stood up to this nazi nonsense. NBC News reports:

"In front of an audience
of more than 5,000 fans, Lady Gaga interrupted her Las Vegas performance
on Saturday to call out Vice President Mike Pence and his wife, Karen.
“To Mike Pence, who thinks it's acceptable that his wife work at school
that bans LGBTQ, you are wrong," Gaga said in the middle of her hit song
"Million Reasons." The gay icon and Grammy-winning performer was responding
to recent news that Karen Pence returned to teaching art at an evangelical
Christian school in northern Virginia that explicitly bans LGBTQ employees
and students. "You say we should not discriminate against Christianity.
You are the worst representation of what it means to be a Christian," Lady
Gaga, a longtime supporter of LGBTQ rights, said while seated at a piano
at MGM's Park Theater. "I am a Christian woman, and what I do know about
Christianity is that we bear no prejudice, and everybody is welcome," she
continued. "So you can take all that disgrace, Mr. Pence, and you can look
yourself in the mirror, and you'll find it right there."

Let it rip, madam.
Let it rip.

"Vice President Pence
responded last week to the backlash following news reports of his wife's
new job, telling Catholic cable network EWTN that he finds it "deeply offensive"
to see "major news organizations attacking Christian education." “We have
a rich tradition in America of Christian education, and frankly religious
education broadly defined,” Mike Pence said in the interview. “We'll let
the other critics roll off our back, but this criticism of Christian education
in America should stop.”

The criticism does not
have its basis in Christian education, you clueless piece of crap.
It's the national socialism, fascism, nazism, fool.

"While opposition to gay
rights is still relatively strong among evangelical Christians, a 2017
report by the Public Religion Research Institute found most religious groups
in the U.S. are supportive of LGBTQ rights, including same-sex marriage."

Forget? The nazi
element can't, won't be confused by the truth.

This musical icon was
far from through:

"Lady Gaga, a vocal critic
of the current administration, also slammed President Trump during Saturday’s
"Enigma" show."

Rightfully, heroically
so.

“If the f---ing president
of the United States could please put our government back,” she said, “there
are people who live paycheck to paycheck and need their money.”

Here, here.
Let it rip. Indeed, let it rip.

"Lady Gaga, who already
has six Grammy awards, two Golden Globes and one Critics' Choice award,
was on Tuesday nominated for two Oscars for her role and music in “A Star
is Born."

Hat's off, madam.
You did the right thing. About time someone did.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"The U.S. Supreme Court
again chose not to take action on the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals
(DACA) program, which allows around 700,000 illegal immigrants brought
to the United States as children to stay in the country. In November, the
Trump administration had asked the Supreme Court to review the program.
The program, which President Trump and Republicans consider to be an example
of presidential overreach, was established by President Obama in an executive
memorandum in 2012. Then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced a plan
to phase out DACA in late 2017, and the program would have ended in March
2018 if federal courts had not blocked it."

Lower judiciary had certainly
previously taken action:

"Three federal courts
have blocked the phase-out, and a decision late last year by the 9th U.S.
Circuit Court of Appeals eventually upheld a ruling blocking it, allowing
the administration to appeal to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court has
twice declined to take up the case, leaving the program in place for now."

Fascinating, isn't it?

"Over the weekend, Mr.
Trump offered a temporary extension to the program in exchange for funding
for a border wall in a deal to reopen the government. Democrats immediately
turned down the offer because the deal did not provide a permanent solution
for DACA. Although the court did not choose to address one controversial
administration decision Tuesday, they did uphold another: they decided
to allow the Trump administration to enforce its ban on transgender troops
while litigation over the ban continues, granting the administration a
stay on a lower court's decision. The high court split 5-4 in allowing
the plan to take effect, with the court's five conservatives greenlighting
it and its four liberal members saying they would not have."

Only a matter of time
before all five Republican nazis continuously march in goose step.
Can certainly bet the Trump nazi is banking on it.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-25-19

At least, some Republican
women are jumping ship. NPR reports:

"Stephanie Clayton won
her fourth term in the Kansas legislature as a moderate Republican but
when she started in office this month, she did so as a Democrat. She says
she had an abrupt change of heart about a month after the November election
last year. It was the day Republican legislative leaders said they wanted
to rewrite a school-finance bill that Clayton and other moderate Republicans
had worked alongside Democrats to pass in last year's session. For her,
it was a breaking point. "I thought, 'I really can't do this anymore,'
" she says. "By the 12th I was being asked to switch parties" and by the
19th, she had. That was the same day state Sen. Dinah Sykes, another former
moderate Republican from the Kansas City suburbs, announced her switch
to join the Democrats, too."

The problem is the Democrats
are just as bad, -- for different reasons. Both major political parties
are failures. Time for desperately needed change.

"Sykes, like Clayton,
says she felt like an outlier in the Republican caucus. "You know, if you
didn't vote in lockstep and fall in line you were penalized." That's what
happened to state Sen. Barbara Bollier, also a former moderate Republican
from the same Kansas City suburbs. When Bollier endorsed Democratic candidates
for election, Kansas Senate President Susan Wagle — a Republican — says
she had no choice but to strip Bollier of her committee leadership posts.
"That was the line," Wagle says."

Interesting, isn't it?

"As a Democrat, Bollier
says this legislative session, for the first time, "I don't have that pit
in my stomach. That stress of knowing I don't agree with so many of the
policies," brought forward by Republicans."

... Just a matter of time.
LOL.

"Like the other former-Republican
lawmakers, Bollier says she reached a breaking point, too. She didn't align
with Republican positions on issues ranging from LGBTQ rights to Medicaid
expansion and says she gave up trying to steer the party back to what she
considered its traditional center. "I've spent nine years trying to do
that and I failed, and I'm not alone. Many people have been trying to do
that," Bollier says."

No question, time of great
turmoil in both parties. -- Neither of which truly serves all their
constituents.

"On the surface, Kansas
House Majority Leader Daniel Hawkins seems unconcerned by the defections.
"Was she ever really voting with us as a Republican?" he says of Stephanie
Clayton. "I think if you look at her voting record, she's where she should
be."

Think so? Or, do
you think the same won't be a problem with the Democrats?

"It's a trend that we'd
been seen in suburbia growing for 20 years," says University of Kansas
political scientist Patrick Miller about the transition from red to blue
in the Kansas City suburbs. "I think it's reached a flashpoint recently."
And by switching parties, these lawmakers have likely improved their re-election
chances, Miller says. Going from majority party outcasts to celebrated
members of the minority could also increase their influence as lawmakers."

... For the moment.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-18-19

Judge blocks Trump rules.
ABC News reports:

"A U.S. judge in California
on Sunday blocked Trump administration rules, which would allow more employers
to opt out of providing women with no-cost birth control, from taking effect
in 13 states and Washington, D.C. Judge Haywood Gilliam granted a request
for a preliminary injunction by California, 12 other states and Washington,
D.C. The plaintiffs sought to prevent the rules from taking effect as scheduled
on Monday while a lawsuit against them moved forward. But Gilliam limited
the scope of the ruling to the plaintiffs, rejecting their request that
he block the rules nationwide. The changes would allow more employers,
including publicly traded companies, to opt out of providing no-cost contraceptive
coverage to women by claiming religious objections. Some private employers
could also object on moral grounds."

Who the hell are they
to force their outrageously perverse religious views on others?

"California and the other
states argue that women would be forced to turn to state-funded programs
for birth control and experience unintended pregnancies. "The law couldn't
be more clear — employers have no business interfering in women's healthcare
decisions," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said in a statement
Sunday. "Today's court ruling stops another attempt by the Trump Administration
to trample on women's access to basic reproductive care. It's 2019, yet
the Trump Administration is still trying to roll back women's rights. Our
coalition will continue to fight to ensure women have access to the reproductive
healthcare they are guaranteed under the law."

"At a hearing on Friday,
Gilliam said the changes would result in a "substantial number" of women
losing birth control coverage, which would be a "massive policy shift."
The judge previously blocked an interim version of the rules — a decision
that was upheld in December by an appeals court. The ruling affects California,
Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Minnesota, New York,
North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, and the District
of Columbia."

NPR reports:

"A federal judge has blocked
a Trump administration rule that would greatly expand the number of employers
that could decline to offer contraceptive coverage on moral or religious
grounds. The policy was set to go into effect nationwide Monday, but that's
been put on hold for 13 states and the District of Columbia, which challenged
the rule in court. The Affordable Care Act requires most companies to offer
employees health insurance that covers FDA-approved birth control at no
cost. But Trump has long promised employers that he would "vigorously"
protect their rights to religious freedom. So the Trump administration
developed rules to make it easier for more employers to opt out of the
ACA requirement. The challengers "have raised serious questions going to
the merits, on their claim that the Religious Exemption and the Moral Exemption
are inconsistent with the Women's Health Amendment," wrote Judge Haywood
Gilliam Jr., who was nominated by President Barack Obama in 2014 to serve
on the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California. The
states had argued that the new policy "cannot be reconciled with the text
and purpose of the ACA — which seeks to promote access to women's healthcare,
not limit it." The Women's Health Amendment is the provision of the ACA
that requires employer-provided health insurance to include coverage for
free or low-cost birth control. Gilliam said that if he didn't block Trump's
new policy, tens of thousands of women could lose that coverage. "The law
couldn't be clearer — employers have no business interfering in women's
healthcare decisions," California Attorney General Xavier Becerra said
in a statement applauding the ruling. "Today's court ruling stops another
attempt by the Trump Administration to trample on women's access to basic
reproductive care."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"President Trump on Monday
denied that he has been trying to conceal details about his discussions
with Russian President Vladimir Putin after a pair of explosive press reports
over the weekend. "I never worked for Russia," Trump told reporters.
"It's a disgrace that you even asked that question because it's a whole
big fat hoax. It's just a hoax."

That right?

"Trump also said he doesn't
know anything about what happened to the notes taken by an interpreter
when he met with Putin last summer in Finland. The Washington Post reported
that Trump took the woman's notes and instructed her not to brief anyone
else in the administration about what the two leaders had discussed during
their closed-door meeting. That followed a pattern of what the newspaper
describes as attempts by Trump to limit access to his dealings with the
Russian leader and the initially false explanation he gave about the meeting
in June 2016 at which his top campaign aides hosted a Russian delegation
that had offered "dirt" on Hillary Clinton. Trump said on Monday morning
that he had a good meeting with Putin in Helsinki and that he often deals
one-on-one with world leaders, including the presidents of China and Japan.
The Post report followed an earlier story by The New York Times that said
the FBI had opened a counterintelligence investigation into Trump in 2017
after he fired then-Director James Comey.

"The weekend's reports
intensified calls by Democrats for more information about Trump's contacts
with the Russian leader, particularly at the summit in Helsinki. Sen. Jeanne
Shaheen, D-N.H., has called for the interpreter to appear at a hearing
or for Secretary of State Mike Pompeo to provide notes or other materials
from the summit. House intelligence committee Chairman Rep. Adam Schiff,
D-Calif., said that although he couldn't comment on the specifics of the
Times report, "counterintelligence concerns about those associated with
the Trump campaign, including the president himself, have been at the heart
of our investigation since the beginning."

The Washington Post
reports:

"President Trump on Monday
flatly denied that he worked for Russia, and he called FBI officials who
launched a counterintelligence investigation to determine whether he did
“known scoundrels” and “dirty cops.” Trump’s comments to reporters as he
left the White House came in response to reports that an FBI investigation
that was opened after Trump fired then-Director James B. Comey in May 2017
included a component to determine whether the president was seeking to
help Russia. “I never worked for Russia,” Trump said as he prepared to
leave for an event in New Orleans, adding: “Not only did I never work for
Russia, I think it’s a disgrace that you even asked that question because
it’s a whole big fat hoax. It’s just a hoax.” During a television appearance
Saturday night, after the counterintelligence component of the Trump investigation
was first reported by the New York Times, Trump called a question whether
he had ever worked for Russia “insulting” but did not directly answer it.
On Monday, he did not equivocate and also attacked Comey and others in
the FBI responsible for the investigation of possible coordination between
Russia and the Trump campaign during the 2016 presidential campaign."

The walls are indeed closing
in on this abomination.

"That investigation is
being conducted by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III, who was appointed
after Trump fired Comey. “He was a bad cop and he was a dirty cop,” Trump
said of Comey. The president also attacked former acting FBI director Andrew
McCabe as “a proven liar and was fired from the FBI.” McCabe made the decision
to open the counterintelligence component of the investigation of Trump.
Trump also pointed to “bias” shown by former FBI agent Peter Strzok and
former FBI lawyer Lisa Page, two employees who were having an affair and
exchanged derogatory texts about Trump. Speaking more broadly of FBI leadership
at the time, Trump said “the people doing that investigation were people
that have been caught that are known scoundrels. They’re ... I guess you
could say they’re dirty cops.”

Trump is a congenital
liar.

"Trump and Comey have
sparred repeatedly, particularly since the release of a book last year
by Comey that describes Trump’s presidency as a “forest fire” and portrays
the president as an ego-driven congenital liar. McCabe was fired last year,
and a grand jury is weighing possible charges against him for allegedly
misleading investigators in a leak probe. Trump also sought Monday to play
down a Washington Post report over the weekend that he had gone to extraordinary
lengths to conceal details of his conversations with Russian President
Vladi­mir Putin. Those included at least one occasion, in 2017 in Hamburg,
when Trump took possession of the notes of his own interpreter and instructed
the linguist not to discuss what had happened with other administration
officials. Asked if he would be willing to share the interpreter’s notes,
Trump did not directly answer, instead saying “it was actually a very successful
meeting” in which he and Putin discussed “many subjects.” “I have those
meetings one-on-one with all leaders including the president of China,
including prime minister of Japan,” Trump said. “We have those meetings
all the time. No big deal.”

NPR reports:

"President Trump has denied
keeping details of his meetings with Russian President Vladimir Putin from
his own administration. "I'm not keeping anything under wraps. I couldn't
care less," Trump said in an interview with Jeanine Pirro on Fox News on
Saturday night. Trump's denials follow a Washington Post report Saturday
that "U.S. officials said there is no detailed record, even in classified
files, of Trump's face-to-face interactions with the Russian leader at
five locations over the past two years." Current and former U.S. officials
told the Post that after a 2017 meeting with Russian President Vladimir
Putin in Hamburg, Germany, Trump took his interpreter's notes and told
her not to speak of details of the meeting with other administration officials.
"This is just at odds with how presidents have conducted diplomacy for
decades and decades in the United States," said Washington Post reporter
Greg Miller in a Sunday interview with NPR's Lulu Garcia-Navarro on Weekend
Edition. "He's taking steps that suggest that there are things being discussed
here that he doesn't even want his staff to hear about or to understand."

"Pirro went on to ask
Trump, "Are you now or have you ever worked for Russia, Mr. President?"
Trump responded, "I think it's the most insulting thing I've ever been
asked. I think it's the most insulting article I've ever had written and
if you read the article, you'd see that they found absolutely nothing."
Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.), chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee,
told NPR his committee will investigate Trump's interactions with Putin.
"It's our responsibility to try to find out, in the best interest of the
country, what really has gone on with Putin and Trump," Engel told NPR's
Sarah McCammon Sunday on All Things Considered. Rep. Adam Schiff (D-CA),
chair of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, tweeted
on Sunday that his committee tried to subpoena the interpreter who, according
to the Post, Trump attempted to silence. "The Republicans on our committee
voted us down," he wrote. Engel told NPR that issuing a subpoena for an
interpreter would be the last resort to find out details of Trump's discussions
with Putin."

Cowardly fail to financially
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rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"As Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo crisscrossed the Middle East this week to explain the U.S.
military withdrawal from Syria, he repeated that he was “confident” and
“optimistic” that he was nearing a deal with Turkey on a mutually agreeable
exit plan. But a pugnacious tweet from President Trump on Sunday night
vowing to “devastate” the Turkish economy if Ankara attacks U.S.-backed
Kurds revealed a much wider chasm between the two sides and prompted a
new round of recriminations from Turkey. The United States “will devastate
Turkey economically if they hit Kurds,” Trump tweeted."

Trump's an idiot.
Failed to consider consequences of withdrawal prior to announcement.

"Hours later, Turkish
Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu blasted Trump’s “threatening language”
and said his country was “not going to be scared or frightened off,” adding:
“You will not get anywhere by threatening Turkey's economy.” The row marked
the second time in a week that the White House has intervened in negotiations
led by the State Department in a way that infuriated Turkey and caught
U.S. diplomats flat-footed. In trying to explain Trump’s tweets on Monday,
Pompeo told reporters in Riyadh that he assumed Trump meant the United
States would levy sanctions on Turkey if it attacked the Kurds but that
he did not know for certain. “I assume he's speaking about those kinds
of things, but you would have to ask him,” said Pompeo, who noted that
he had not talked to Trump about the tweet."

Sound like executive
material to you?

"It was not the first
instance of mixed messaging from the White House and State Department on
the delicate issue of leaving Syria. Last week, Turkish President Recep
Tayyip Erdogan erupted after national security adviser John Bolton made
remarks conditioning the withdrawal of American troops from Syria on protection
of Syrian Kurdish fighters who fought alongside U.S. forces against the
Islamic State. Turkey’s government considers the Syrian Kurdish fighters,
also known as the YPG, to be part of a terrorist movement and has vowed
to attack them after the United States withdraws. Bolton intended to refer
specifically to America’s Kurdish proxy forces, but he struck a nerve by
using imprecise language and appearing to dictate to Erdogan, U.S. and
Turkish officials said."

Called Aryan arrogance.
Expected of Bolton.

"The misstep angered James
Jeffrey, the U.S. special envoy to the coalition against the Islamic State,
who had been immersed in negotiations with the Turks when Bolton's comment
upended the talks, according to three people familiar with the negotiations.
Trump's abrupt order to withdraw from Syria in December surprised U.S.
allies and has left questions about the pace and scale of the pullout.
Trump originally said U.S. troops were leaving “now,” but he has since
said it would happen “slowly” after the United States ensured a lasting
defeat of the Islamic State. Pompeo said U.S. messaging over concerns about
Turkish attacks on the Kurds has never changed. “The administration has
been very consistent with respect to our requirement that the Turks not
go after the Kurds in ways that are inappropriate,” Pompeo said. “If they
are terrorists, we're all about taking down extremists wherever we find
them. I think the president's comments this morning are consistent with
that.” Trump’s tweet included a demand that Turkey create a “ 20 mile safe
zone.” After the tweet, the Turkish lira lost about 0.84 percent of its
value against the dollar."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-18-19

More on Manafort. The
Washington Post reports:

"New revelations about
Paul Manafort’s interactions with a Russian associate while he was leading
President Trump’s campaign provide a window into how extensively the special
counsel has mapped interactions between Trump associates and Russians in
his 20-month-long investigation. When Manafort pleaded guilty in September
to federal crimes related to his work advising Ukrainian politicians, Trump
said the admissions by his former campaign chairman had “nothing to do”
with the special counsel’s main mission, which Trump described as “looking
for Russians involved in our campaign.” But new details inadvertently revealed
in a court filing last week — including the fact that Manafort shared polling
data about the 2016 race with an associate who allegedly has ties to Russian
intelligence — indicate that special counsel Robert S. Mueller III has
also been scrutinizing interactions between Russians and Manafort while
he led Trump’s presidential bid."

Surprised? Why?

"Manafort is among at
least 14 Trump associates who interacted with Russians during the campaign
and transition, according to public records and interviews. The new examples
of Manafort’s communications serve as a reminder that much about Mueller’s
findings remains unknown in what are widely believed to be the closing
weeks of his probe. Advisers to Trump are bracing for a final report by
the special counsel, a confidential document summarizing his findings that
they say could be turned over to senior Justice Department officials next
month. What Mueller will conclude — and even the full scope of his investigation
— remains closely held by the special counsel."

Have to admire Mueller's
discipline.

"Mueller’s appointment
was precipitated by Trump’s firing of FBI Director James B. Comey in May
2017 — a move that also led the FBI to open an investigation into the president
to determine whether he obstructed justice and whether he sought to aid
Russia, according to people familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition
of anonymity. That investigation, which has criminal and counterintelligence
components, was continued by Mueller. The new information about Manafort
indicates Mueller has been exploring what he may have communicated to Russians
while working for Trump. And it serves as a stark reminder that as Trump
was offering Russia-friendly rhetoric on the campaign trail, his White
House bid was led for a time by a man with long-standing ties to powerful
Russian figures. Manafort, an international lobbyist and political strategist,
was embroiled in a multimillion-dollar financial dispute with Russian businessman
Oleg Deripaska, who is close to President Vladimir Putin, according to
court filings. He was also owed money by a political party in Ukraine that
had failed to pay him for work he did after his client, the ousted leader
Viktor Yanukovych, fled to Moscow amid public protests in 2014, filings
show. Even as he was working for the Trump campaign, Manafort continued
to communicate with Konstantin Kilimnik, a Russian employee of his consulting
business who the FBI says was linked to Russian intelligence, prosecutors
said in court papers last year. A talented translator with impressive language
skills, Kilimnik had been trained at a Moscow university known as a recruiting
ground for the Russian intelligence services. After a stint in the military
and time spent working for the International Republican Institute in Moscow,
he was hired by Manafort in 2005 to assist his political consulting business
in navigating the complicated Ukrainian political scene. Friends said Kilimnik
emerged as Manafort’s right-hand man in Kiev and Russia, including serving
as Manafort’s liaison to Deripaska."

What webs we weave.
Incredible how complicated this story is turning out.

"In a written statement
to The Washington Post in 2017, Kilimnik denied that he had connections
to Russian intelligence. But in documents filed in court last year, Mueller’s
prosecutors wrote that Manafort’s deputy, Rick Gates, had said Kilimnik
told him that he had formerly been an officer in the GRU, the Russian military
intelligence unit accused of engineering the 2016 election interference.
Prosecutors said the FBI has assessed that Kilimnik’s intelligence ties
continued into that year. New details about what Manafort and Kilimnik
discussed during the campaign emerged last week when Manafort’s team sought
to rebut the allegation by the special counsel that Manafort lied to investigators
after he pleaded guilty last fall and agreed to cooperate. His attorneys
argued that Manafort, who has been jailed since June and they said is suffering
from gout and depression, simply failed to remember certain key details
until prosecutors refreshed his memory with documents and other evidence.
In previous court filings, they have contended that Mueller has never turned
over evidence to show that Manafort was in contact with Russian government
or intelligence officials, suggesting prosecutors have not detailed their
evidence against Kilimnik."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-18-19

No justice. Repeat
of history. NPR reports:

"This won't be the first
time that William Barr, President Trump's nominee to become attorney general,
will be involved with what's been called a "witch hunt." Barr, who is scheduled
to go before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Tuesday for his confirmation
hearings, ran the Justice Department once before, under President George
H.W. Bush. Back then, the all-consuming, years-long scandal was called
Iran-Contra. On Dec. 24, 1992, it ended when Bush pardoned six people who
had been caught up in it. "The Constitution is quite clear on the powers
of the president and sometimes the president has to make a very difficult
call," Bush said then. "That's what I've done."

The pardons were clearly
legal, constitutional. They were, however, obstruction of justice.

"Then-Attorney General
Barr supported the president's decision in the Iran-Contra case, which
gave clemency to people who had been officials in the administration of
President Ronald Reagan, including former Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger.
He had been set to go on trial to face charges about lying to Congress.
To the man who led the Iran-Contra investigation, however, the pardons
represented a miscarriage of justice. "It demonstrates that powerful people
with powerful allies can commit serious crimes in high office, deliberately
abusing the public trust without consequences," said Lawrence Walsh, the
independent prosecutor in the case, at the time of the pardons."

He's right. No more
than legalized obstruction of justice. To protect the criminal bastards
at the top of the food chain.

"Barr said later that
he believed Bush had made the right decision and that he felt people in
the case had been treated unfairly."

Barr is unfit for office.
Lacks judgment. Here's why:

"The big ones — obviously,
the Iran-Contra ones — I certainly did not oppose any of them," Barr said
as part of the Presidential Oral History Program of the Miller Center at
the University of Virginia. "I favored the broadest pardon authority,"
Barr said. "There were some people just arguing just for Weinberger. I
said, 'No — in for a penny, in for a pound.' "

"As Washington prepares
for Barr's confirmation hearings on Tuesday, this controversy from 1992
has begun to feel very familiar. Today's Justice Department also is running
a high-stakes investigation into the current administration: Whether Trump
or his campaign coordinated with the Russian attack on the 2016 election.
The president's onetime aides also have been caught up in it. Trump, meanwhile,
calls the investigation a "hoax" and a "witch hunt." And there also has
been talk about whether Trump might pardon some of those people — or even,
potentially, himself.

"Democrats are expected
to press Barr on Tuesday about his views on the ongoing Russia investigation,
about which he has been critical. Barr submitted a legal memo to the Justice
Department explaining why he thought special counsel Robert Mueller didn't
have a legal basis on which to investigate Trump for possibly obstructing
justice, and Barr also has criticized the special counsel's office in the
press. Barr's supporters say now that he wasn't in full command of the
facts of the case when he wrote his memo, well before he'd been nominated
to return to the Justice Department. Now that he is, Barr has pledged to
let Mueller complete his work, said Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., the incoming
chairman of the Judiciary Committee. What's more, Graham said this week
after meeting the nominee, Barr and Mueller are personal friends — Mueller
attended the weddings of Barr's children. The quality of that relationship
should reassure Democrats in Congress and others that Barr isn't going
to go back into the Justice Department and blow up the special counsel's
office in order to protect Trump, Graham suggested. Moreover, Graham told
reporters, Barr does not believe the Russia investigation is a "witch hunt."

Believe it?

The Washington Post
reports:

"Attorney general nominee
William Barr appears before the Senate Judiciary Committee for his confirmation
hearing on Capitol Hill. (Melina Mara/The Washington Post)11:30 a.m.: Barr says
he will ‘strike the right balance’ on asset forfeiture

"Barr pledged that he
would seek to “strike the right balance” when it comes to the Justice Department’s
policy on civil asset forfeiture — the practice of seizing cash or other
property from people suspected of crimes that has come under significant
scrutiny from libertarian Republicans."

There is none. It's
legalized theft. -- How unwanted dreaded second American revolutions
spawn.

"Under questioning from
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Barr said he would review the department’s current
practices on civil asset forfeiture and that he believes “constant vigilance
is necessary.” “I plan to get into it and see exactly what the horror stories
are, where the problems and potential abuses are and also whether [former]
Attorney General [Jeff] Sessions’s guidelines are providing sufficient
protection,” Barr told Lee. “At the same time, I think it is a valuable
tool in law enforcement.”

What it is is is raw nazism.
Outrageous abuse of authority. Stands against everything our formerly
great country once stood for. All jackbooted treacherous pieces of
human excrement that embrace it are traitors. Including the attorney
general nominee.

"Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.)
said in an interview on “Meet the Press” last month that he was “disturbed”
that Barr appears to be a “big fan of taking people’s property” without
due process. “Many poor people in our country have cash taken from them
and then the government says, ‘Prove to us where you got the cash,’ and
then you can get it back,” Paul said last month. “But the burden is on
the individual. It’s a terrible thing called civil asset forfeiture. He’s
a big fan of that.”

Makes him a traitor.
Unfit for office.

"11:15 a.m.: Barr says
government must do a better job of stopping inflow of overseas drugs

"As part of Barr’s pledge
to support criminal justice reform, he called on the administration’s diplomatic
force to do a better job getting foreign governments to stop the inflow
of drug shipments from overseas."

Where have we heard this
before? Where?

“The head of the snake
is outside the country, and the place to fight this aggressively is at
the source more than on the street corner,” Barr said. “I used to say we
could stack up generation after generation of people in prison and it’ll
still keep on coming.”

Nonsense. The head
of the snake is within outrageously corrupt, abusive law enforcement.
Prohibition of alcohol gave us the Mafia. Drug prohibition corrupted
every goddamned law enforcement agency in this country to at least some
extent. It's illegality did nothing to control or end its usage.
Quite the opposite. Increased profits.

Drug prohibition should
be enforced only on those who are underaged. Use drugs as an adult,
get what you deserve. There are more than enough laws on the books
covering the ancillary effects of drug usage such as driving under the
influence, acts of violence, etc.. Take the money out of drug trafficking,
you control at least some of the ancillary effects of drug usage.
There is no simple easy soltution to this scourge.

"Barr made his comments
as part of a defense he offered for his hard-line position on prosecuting
drug offenders — something he said he pursued as a response to community
leaders who, in the early 1990s, were appealing to the administration to
do something about the crack epidemic. He said that the administration
should listen to community leaders again who are testifying that those
harsh penalties were incarcerating too many individuals and thus, ruining
lives."

He's talking out both
sides his clueless ass:

“I understand that things
have changed since 1992. I held on a little bit longer to keeping strong
sentences maybe than others,” Barr said, noting that he had not been serving
at the Justice Department for several years. “I support an adjustment to
these sentences and the safety valve and so forth.”

He's talking out both
sides his ass. Double talk.

"But Barr stressed that
international options were the only way to address the new drug epidemics
ably. “Fentanyl is sort of the new crack,” Barr said. “And they’re coming
in from China.”

More horse shit.
Forget? If there was no demand, there'd be no market.

"Though Barr addressed
the drug crisis directly, he effectively dodged questions from Sen. Richard
J. Durbin (D-Ill.) about what he would do regarding the administration’s
family separation policy and the “zero-tolerance policy” toward illegal
immigration offenses his predecessor Jeff Sessions had endorsed. “I’m not
sure I know all the details, because one of the disadvantages I have is
I’m not in the department,” he said, noting that he believed the Department
of Homeland Security makes the judgment calls about who should be referred
to Justice to be prosecuted for illegal entry. “Now what is being done
is DHS is not referring for prosecution family units that will lead to
the separation of children,” he said."

More disingenuous bullshit.

NPR reports:

"Democratic senators are
focusing their questions for Barr on special counsel Robert Mueller's Russia
investigation. "Now perhaps more than ever before," said ranking member
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., "the country needs someone who will uphold
the rule of law, defend the independence of the Justice Department, and
truly understand that their job is to serve as the people's lawyer: not
the president's lawyer." Barr attempted to reassure those worried by his
skepticism of Mueller's office by vowing to permit Mueller to complete
his work investigating the Russian attack on the 2016 election. Mueller
is determining whether any Americans played any role in that attack and
The New York Times has reported that may include a direct look at Trump
himself. Speaking to reporters Monday, the president denied that he has
been trying to conceal details about his discussions with Russian President
Vladimir Putin after a pair of explosive press reports over the weekend.
"I never worked for Russia," Trump said. "It's a disgrace that you even
asked that question because it's a whole big fat hoax. It's just a hoax."
The White House press secretary also called The New York Times report "absurd,"
and on Twitter Monday the president even advised journalists covering him
to "Take two weeks off and come back rested. Chill!"

Follow your own advice,
Mr. 'President.'

"In his opening statement,
Barr said it was "very important" for the public and Congress to see the
results of the Mueller investigation. "If confirmed, I will not permit
partisan politics, personal interests, or any other improper consideration
to interfere with this or any other investigation," Barr said."

Delusionally believe so?

"Trump needs no Democratic
Senate votes for his nominee to be confirmed, as Republicans hold a 53-47
advantage in the chamber, and Cabinet nominees require just a simple majority."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-18-19

Racism remains alive and
well in the Republican Party. NPR reports:

"House Minority Leader
Kevin McCarthy promises "action will be taken" against Iowa Republican
Rep. Steve King for his latest offering in a well-documented history of
making racially charged or racially insensitive remarks. "I'm having a
serious conversation with Congressman Steve King on his future and role
in this Republican Party," McCarthy told CBS's Face the Nation. The two
lawmakers are expected to meet privately on Monday. "I will not stand back
as a leader of this party, believing in this nation that all are created
equal, that that stands or continues to stand and have any role with us."
There are few options for punishment in the House: stripping King's committee
assignments, censuring him on the House floor and expulsion. At least three
House Democrats — Bobby Rush of Illinois, Tim Ryan of Ohio, and House Majority
Whip James Clyburn — announced Monday they plan to introduce resolutions
to censure or reprimand King. Rush's resolution includes a list of 14 controversial
comments King has made going to 2006. A censure resolution is a way for
the House to issue a public rebuke of a lawmaker's words or action, but
does not carry with it any additional punishment if it is approved."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-18-19

Republicans are growing
increasingly sensitive to the Steve King fiasco. Rightfully, so.
About time. NPR reports:

"House Republican leaders
moved Monday to remove Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa from two House
committees as a punishment for his recent comments in a New York Times
interview where he questioned whether "white supremacy" and "white supremacist"
were offensive terms. "We will not be seating Steve King on any committees
in the 116th Congress," House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif.,
told reporters after the House Republicans who handle committee assignments
met Monday night and voted to strip King of his positions. He was a member
of the House Judiciary and Agriculture Committees. "Leader McCarthy's decision
to remove me from committees is a political decision that ignores the truth,"
King said in reaction to the decision — a response that seemed to invoke
his remarks on the House floor Friday where he denied being a racist. "Under
any fair political definition, I am simply an American nationalist," King
had said Friday."

Horse shit. What
you are is a national socialist, fascist, nazi. A racist. --
If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, guess what?
It's a duck.

"Monday, top House and
Senate GOP leaders also condemned King's comments, which were the latest
is a string of racially charged remarks he has made during his 16 years
in Congress."

What took so long?

"Separately, House Democratic
leaders are planning on a vote of disapproval of King's comments as early
as Tuesday on the House floor. Some Democrats are seeking to censure King,
a move that would be a stronger public admonition of the controversial
Republican lawmaker. House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., had
promised "action will be taken" against King for his latest offering in
a well-documented history of making racially charged or racially insensitive
remarks. "I'm having a serious conversation with Congressman Steve King
on his future and role in this Republican Party," McCarthy told CBS's Face
the Nation Sunday. "I will not stand back as a leader of this party, believing
in this nation that all are created equal, that that stands or continues
to stand and have any role with us," McCarthy also said on the TV program.
The two lawmakers met privately Monday. There are few options for punishment
in the House: stripping King's committee assignments, censuring him on
the House floor and expulsion. By Monday evening, House GOP leaders had
begun to pursue taking away the committee assignments and some Democrats
are seeking a censure."

Expel his ass. A
goddamned racist isn't worth a crap. Needs to go.

"At least three House
Democrats — Bobby Rush of Illinois, Tim Ryan of Ohio and House Majority
Whip James Clyburn — announced Monday they plan to introduce resolutions
to censure or reprimand King. Rush's resolution includes a list of 14 controversial
comments King has made going back to 2006. A censure resolution is a way
for the House to issue a public rebuke of a lawmaker's words or action,
but does not carry with it any additional punishment if it is approved.
In a statement, Rush chastised King's GOP colleagues for tolerating King's
series of controversial comments. "Republicans, in the interest of political
expediency, sought his endorsement, ignored his racist remarks, and continued
to elevate him to positions of influence," Rush said, "Only now that his
behavior is well known to those outside the beltway and tainted him politically,
do they vigorously denounce him."

Precisely, why if he won't
resign, expel his sorry ass.

"Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., who rarely weighs in on House GOP members' actions,
released a written statement Monday condemning King."

About time. This
goddamned Republican racist is doing great damage to the GOP.

CBS News reports:

"Congressional Republicans
issued a sharp rebuke to Iowa Rep. Steve King on Monday, barring the veteran
lawmaker from serving on any House committees as punishment for comments
he made defending white supremacy and white nationalism. House Minority
Leader Kevin McCarthy, who had pledged to take "action" against the Iowa
lawmaker on "Face the Nation" Sunday, told reporters on Monday evening
that the party's steering committee had voted unanimously to deny King
any committee posts in the current congressional session. King had served
on the Judiciary, Agriculture and Small Business Committees in the previous
Congress. "These are not the first time we have heard these comments,"
McCarthy said. "That is not the party of Lincoln and it is definitely not
America. All people are created equal in America and we want to take a
very strong stance about that."

What took so long?

"The move came after days
of bipartisan criticism of King for suggesting in an interview with the
New York Times on Thursday that white nationalism and white supremacism
were not offensive terms. "White nationalist, white supremacist, Western
civilization — how did that language become offensive?" King asked. "Why
did I sit in classes teaching me about the merits of our history and our
civilization?" King reacted to McCarthy's move by calling it a "political
decision that ignores the truth." In a statement, he said his comments
had been mischaracterized by the Times. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell
said in a statement Monday that King "should find another line of work"
if he didn't understand why white supremacy was offensive. Utah Sen. Mitt
Romney, meanwhile, was more blunt, and called on King to resign. "Steve
King's comments are reprehensible. They have no place in polite society.
And certainly no place in the Republican party," Romney told reporters
Monday evening. "And they should have no place in the United States Congress.
He ought to resign and move on and let someone else who represents American
values take his seat."

Indeed. Time to
go.

"Before Romney and McConnell's
rebukes of King, House Democrats introduced several measures addressing
the controversy. Rep. Bobby Rush, D-Illinois, introduced a motion to censure
the veteran Republican congressman for his racist remarks. A senior member
of the Congressional Black Caucus, Rush also called on Republican leadership
to oust King from all committee assignments. "He has become too comfortable
with proudly insulting, disrespecting, and denigrating people of color,"
Rush said in a statement before McCarthy's announcement. "As with any animal
that is rabid, Steve King should be set aside and isolated." Rep. Tim Ryan,
D-Ohio, also introduced a similar, albeit narrower, resolution. And Majority
Whip James Clyburn, D-South Carolina, said he intends to issue a resolution
expressing his disapproval of King's comments, but that he did not believe
censure was appropriate because King's most recent comments were made to
a reporter and not on the House floor. President Trump was asked several
times by reporters to comment on King's remarks on Monday. Mr. Trump replied,
"I haven't been following it. I really haven't been following it."

Think so? Believe
the liar?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-18-19

At least one judge is
willing to stand up against racism. ABC News reports:

"A judge has overturned
an Alabama law meant to prevent the removal of Confederate monuments from
public property, ruling the act infringed on the rights of citizens in
a mostly black city who are "repulsed" by the memorial."

About time. What
took so long?

"The 10-page ruling issued
late Monday by Jefferson County Circuit Judge Michael Graffeo said a 2017
state law barring the removal or alteration of historical monuments wrongly
violated the free speech rights of local communities. The law can't be
enforced, Graffeo ruled, but the state could still appeal. The attorney
general's comment had no immediate response to an email seeking comment
Tuesday. The state sued the city of Birmingham after officials tried to
remove a 52-foot-tall (16-meter)-tall obelisk that was erected to honor
Confederate veterans in a downtown park in 1905. Rather than toppling the
stone marker, the city built a 12-foot (3.6-meter)-tall wooden box around
it. Birmingham's population of 210,000 is more than 70 percent black, and
the judge said it was indisputable that most citizens are "repulsed" by
the memorial. He rejected the state's claims that lawmakers had the power
to protect historical monuments statewide."

The law is clearly outrageously
unconstitutional.

"The law includes a $25,000
penalty for removing or altering a historical monument, but the judge said
the penalty was unconstitutional. The city hasn't had to pay while the
lawsuit worked its way through court. The ruling came hours after the inauguration
of Republican Gov. Kay Ivey, who signed the law and opened her campaign
last year with a commercial that prominently showed Confederate monuments.
"We can't change or erase our history, but here in Alabama we know something
that Washington doesn't. To get where we are going means understanding
where we have been," Ivey said in the ad. Supporters of the law contend
it protects not just Confederate memorials but historical markers of any
kind, but rebel memorials have been an issue nationwide since a white supremacist
gunman killed nine worshippers in a black church in Charleston, South Carolina,
in 2015."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-18-19

Think a capitalist would
embrace capitalism? NBC News reports:

"President Donald Trump’s
Cuba policy is driving millions of dollars from the island’s private entrepreneurs
to its state-run tourism sector, the opposite of its supposed goal, according
to new government figures. Trump announced in June 2017 that he was tightening
limits on U.S. travel to Cuba in order to starve military-linked travel
businesses and funnel money directly to the Cuban people. He restricted
Americans’ ability to travel to Cuba on their own, rather than with a tour
group. At the same time, he allowed U.S. cruise lines to continue to take
passengers to Cuba, where they pay millions to disembark at military-run
docks and make quick trips onshore that are generally coordinated by government
tour agencies that steer travelers to state-run destinations. Cuban government
figures from the first full year under Trump’s policy show occupancy of
private bed-and-breakfasts in Havana plunged to 44 percent in 2018 after
years at near capacity in the wake of President Barack Obama’s start of
normalization with Cuba, said Michael Bernal, commercial director for the
Ministry of Tourism.

"Trump administration's
tougher stance is hitting ordinary Cubans, Cuban-Americans. That has had
a devastating effect on owners and employees of Cuba’s 24,185 private bed-and-breakfasts
and 2,170 private restaurants known as paladares. They cherished U.S. travelers
as heavy tippers who crammed days full of activities like classic car rides
and cooking classes that put money into private hands. David Pajon, a university
professor who bought an apartment to rent in Old Havana, said he has had
to drop his rates and his income has fallen 40 percent since Trump’s new
policy went into effect in 2017. He still was a third empty last month,
the first time in three years that he wasn’t fully booked in December.
“U.S.-Cuba normalization inspired a lot of people who thought this was
a good business to invest their savings in,” Pajon said. “And all of a
sudden you have the U.S. government creating a situation that has an impact
on the number of people who came, or changes the way they’re coming — on
cruise ships!”

"Enrique Nunez, owner
of La Guarida, perhaps Havana’s best-known restaurant, said he had to cut
his employees’ hours last year because his revenue fell 40 percent. “We
don’t understand the U.S. rules,” said Bernal, the tourism official. “We
heard the president’s speech saying that the U.S. government supports entrepreneurs.
However, that’s the sector that’s suffering most in Cuba.”

Fascinating, isn't it?
What webs we weave.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"A federal judge has ruled
against the Trump administration’s addition of a citizenship question to
the 2020 Census."

Surprised? Why?

"In the first major ruling
on the controversial question, U.S. District Judge Furman of New York’s
Southern District court ordered the administration to stop its plans to
add the question to the survey “without curing the legal defects” identified
in his opinion. Plaintiffs hailed the decision. “This ruling is a forceful
rebuke of the Trump administration’s attempt to weaponize the census for
an attack on immigrant communities,” said Dale Ho, director of the Voting
Rights Project at the ACLU, which was a plaintiff in the case. The Trump
administration had tried several times to stop the case from going forward,
including requests to the Supreme Court; the adminstration is likely to
appeal Furman’s decision in the high court. Plaintiffs in the trial include
18 states and several cities and jurisdictions, along with civil rights
groups. The trial addressed two of seven lawsuits that arose from Commerce
Secretary Wilbur Ross’s March decision to add the question. Two more trials
over the questions are underway or about to begin. Opponents of the question
say it will reduce response rates in immigrant communities and make the
constitutionally mandated decennial survey more costly and less accurate.
The government had said the question was necessary to enforce the Voting
Rights Act. Justice Department spokesperson Kelly Laco, said, “We are disappointed
and are still reviewing the ruling,” and added that the government is “legally
entitled to include the question on the census.”

Think so?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-18-19

Trump lines his pockets
off the trappings of office. ABC News reports:

"President Donald Trump’s
inaugural committee spent more than $1.5 million at the Trump International
Hotel in Washington ahead of his 2017 swearing-in, according to internal
documents reviewed by ABC News."

How about that?

"It is part of an array
of expenditures there and elsewhere that included more than $130,000 for
customized seat cushions at two gala dinners for the president-elect, $10,000
to provide makeup to the servers at another formal dinner, and $2.7 million
to a company that produced a Broadway-style rendition of Frank Sinatra’s
“New York, New York” using Las Vegas show girls flown in by Trump pal Steve
Wynn for a private event. Compared to past inaugurations, the festivities
surrounding Trump’s swearing-in were modest in scale – the non-profit group
established to oversee the celebration hosted only three major events.
But the amount of money involved was record-breaking – with more than $107
million raised and $104 million spent, double the amounts of President
Barack Obama’s first inaugural. "These inaugural committees if there’s
not good transparency and disclosure, can turn into slush funds,” said
Rep. John Sarbanes, a Maryland Democrat, who has served on the House Oversight
Committee. “That’s why you need to have requirements that they disclose
what the spending is, where it’s coming from, put some limits on the kind
of spending that’s appropriate, so that it’s really going towards inaugural
needs, and not other purposes."

About time Democrats conducted
hearings to determine what went where:

"House Oversight Committee
member Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill., who has previously served on the
committee, said he expects Democrats to look into the way the money was
both raised and spent. "It’s all the more reason why there has to be sunshine
on both ends -- who is actually donating to the committees and how this
spending is going to be done," Krishnamoorthi told ABC News. Trump's inauguration
committee was led by the president’s longtime friend Thomas Barrack. He
was not paid as part of his role overseeing the inaugural festivities.
ABC News reached out to a spokesman for Barrack. Already there had been
questions about how that money was spent. Tax filings disclosed the five
largest vendors included payments of nearly $26 million to an event planning
firm run by a one-time adviser and close friend of Melania Trump. The adviser,
Stephanie Winston-Wolkoff, created a company called WIS Media Partners
based in California that handled some of the festivities. That firm paid
out contracts to other sub-contractors that were hired and used some of
the funds to hire sub-contractors. Winston-Wolkoff was also paid $1.62
million directly for her work, ABC News has previously reported. ABC News
has left messages for Winston-Wolkoff’s attorney."

Imagine that. Follow
the money trail.

"Internal financial documents
reviewed by ABC News on Monday show spending that was not required to be
included on public tax filings. Those records outline in granular detail
how money was, in some instances, directed to pay Trump’s political advisers.
That included nearly $2.7 million to the company of Trump’s 2020 campaign
manager, Brad Parscale, who handled digital operations for the inaugural.
A separate company, Fortalice Solutions LLC, which specializes in cyber
protection, was paid $450,000. The inaugural committee shelled out $130,000
to Tiffany & Company, which a source confirmed was to provide guests
with salad bowls."

Jesus Christ.

"The documents also show
sizeable amounts spent on the travel and feeding of dozens of friends and
aides in the days leading up to the inauguration. According to the filings,
for example, the committee paid $25,000 to reimburse hotel expenses for
longtime Trump pal, real estate executive Howard Lorber. A breakdown of
Melania Trump’s friend, Winston-Wolkoff’s company expenses shows thousands
of dollars spent on dining, lodging and travel including $24 in Uber rides
to “pick up exec meds,” and $13 to “drop off Jon’s laundry,” a reference
to a Winston-Wolkoff aide. Her company’s expenditures also included a $12.72
Uber reimbursement for a ride ordered for Hollywood producer Mark Burnett,
creator of “The Apprentice,” the show that launched Trump into reality
TV stardom. ABC News has reached out to Lorber and Burnett for comment."

Think they'll get one?

"Many of Winston-Wolkoff’s
employees stayed at the Trump International Hotel which was used as a prime
meeting place during the festivities. But spending there had not previously
been detailed. Among those expenses were numerous payments for food and
beverages. For example, one couple working for Winston-Wolkoff billed the
inauguration $1,835 in room service charges there over three days. There
are few hard and fast rules governing how inaugural funds may be spent.
The committee that raises and spends it is a tax exempt group that must
comply with IRS rules, according to Brett Kappel, a campaign finance lawyer
in Washington. Where the Trump inaugural spending could raise red flags,
he said, is if the fund was being operated for the private benefit of any
individual. “Substantial spending by the inaugural committee at the Trump
Hotel would raise issues of impermissible self-dealing by the committee,”
Kappel said. Kappel said the IRS would want to know, for instance, if the
inaugural committee paid fair market value for the goods and services it
purchased from the hotel. The committee spent more than $1 million each
at two other hotels, the Willard Hotel and the Fairmont Hotel, the records
show."

Think Trump's pockets
weren't lined?

"Broadly speaking, spending
at the Trump International Hotel in Washington has already been a focus
of ethics groups and Democrats in congress. Even without the new figures
showing the Trump Inaugural spending, other records have shown various
Republican-affiliated campaigns and groups as well as U.S. and foreign
governments spent nearly $2 million at the hotel since Trump took office."

Nothing quite like lining
your pockets off your government job, is there?

"That has included more
than $509,000 from the Republican National Committee, more than $137,000
from Trump's campaign and joint fundraising committees, according to FEC
filings. House Democrats introduced a bill last year that would require
the administration to publicly disclose every time Trump or other federal
officials spend taxpayer money at Trump-owned hotels and golf courses.
"The immense honor and responsibility of serving as president of the United
States should never be exploited for profit, and this president, like no
president before him, has made an art of making money off the federal government,"
said Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., who was a sponsor, said at the time."

Think Democratic presidents
haven't done the same?

"The tax filing showed
that the committee spent $104 million of the $107 million it raised. By
way of comparison, for the 2009 inauguration, then-president elect Barack
Obama’s team raised roughly $53.2 million and reported spending about $51
million. The Trump Inauguration also donated $5 million to various charities
including the American Red Cross, Salvation Army and the Smithsonian Institute
among others."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"One of the agencies affected
by the partial government shutdown — now in its third week — is the Internal
Revenue Service. While many taxpayers may not feel this is a great loss,
they'll still have to pay their taxes — and the shutdown has created a
good deal of uncertainty for everyone planning to file their tax returns
in the coming months. But fear not, the White House says; tax refund checks
will be sent out, even though the IRS, part of the Treasury Department,
is for the most part closed. Office of Management and Budget acting Director
Russell Vought told reporters Monday that tax refunds will go out, contrary
to previous government shutdown policies. "We have tried to make this as
painless as possible, consistent with the law," he said. It's not clear,
however, how it will happen smoothly, given the 70,000 IRS employees who
are furloughed."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-11-19

Same old, same old.
Shutdown continues. NPR reports:

"A closed-door briefing
for congressional leaders in the White House Situation Room on Wednesday
failed to resolve any issues between Democrats and the Trump administration
over funding for border security. The stalemate has led to a partial government
shutdown, now nearing the two-week mark. "I don't think any particular
progress
was made," Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., told reporters
afterward. The lawmakers were invited to return to the White House on Friday
to continue talks. Democratic leaders said they pressed President Trump
to accept their proposal to approve measures to fund through the end of
the fiscal year those federal agencies that have run out of money and to
provide a short-term funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security
that would provide spending authority until early February. The proposal
regarding DHS would give the two sides additional time to resolve the border
security funding impasse. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y.,
said Republicans and the White House "are now feeling the heat" over the
shutdown. "It is not helping the president, it is not helping the Republicans
to be the owners of this shutdown today," Schumer said. "We gave them an
opportunity to get out of that and open the government as we debate border
security." Incoming House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said Democrats
"are asking the president to open up the government. We are giving him
a Republican path to do that — why would he not do that?"

Trump continues to lie:

"During a Cabinet meeting
earlier, Trump said the government "is in a shutdown because Democrats
refuse to fund border security." But Democratic leaders on Capitol Hill
have previously supported $1.3 billion for border security, an amount far
less than the $5 billion the president has insisted on, and Democrats have
refused to accede to Trump's demand for funding specifically for building
a border wall."

Total waste of taxpayer
dollars. Don't Republican national socialists, fascists, rabid nazis
claim to be conservatives? What's conservative about
blowing billions on a wall that can be gone over, under, or through?

The president remains
determinedly, concertedly separated from reality:

"Trump said he would keep
the government in a partial shutdown "for as long as it takes," adding,
"I think the people of the country think I'm right."

The hell they do.
Only, your sick sycophants. You and your fellow GOP nazis own
this fiasco:

"But a NPR/PBS Newshour/Marist
poll taken before the shutdown began had a different finding. By a 21-point
margin — 57 percent to 36 percent — Americans think the president should
compromise on the wall to avoid a government shutdown."

... Proof positive an
idiot cannot be confused by the truth.

"Other members of the
administration chimed in during the Cabinet meeting, with praise for Trump's
stance. Vice President Pence said, "I want to thank you for the strong
stand you have taken on border security," adding that the administration
"is ready to deal, we have an offer on the table."

Take your nose out of
his ass, fool. Butthole stinks. Worse? Get this:

"That offer, however,
reportedly made by Pence to Democrats for $2.5 billion for border security,
was publicly rejected by Trump later in the Cabinet meeting, illustrating
the difficulties Democrats face in negotiating with the mercurial president."

This man is grossly unfit
for office. Remains an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil
and constitutional rights and liberties.

The Washington Post
reports:

"While many federal workers
go without pay and the government is partially shut down, hundreds of senior
Trump political appointees are poised to receive annual raises of about
$10,000 a year."

How about that?
LOL.

"The pay raises for Cabinet
secretaries, deputy secretaries, top administrators and even Vice President
Pence are scheduled to go into effect beginning Jan. 5 without legislation
to stop them, according to documents issued by the Office of Personnel
Management and experts in federal pay. The raises appear to be an unintended
consequence of the shutdown: When lawmakers failed to pass bills on Dec.
21 to fund multiple federal agencies, they allowed an existing pay freeze
to lapse. Congress enacted a law capping pay for top federal executives
in 2013 and renewed it each year. The raises will occur because that cap
will expire without legislative action by Saturday, allowing raises to
kick in that have accumulated over those years but never took effect, starting
with paychecks that will be issued next week. Cabinet secretaries, for
example, would be entitled to a jump in annual salary from $199,700 to
$210,700. Deputy secretaries would be entitled to a raise from $179,700
to $189,600. Others affected are under secretaries, deputy directors and
other top administrators. The pay of Pence is scheduled to rise from $230,700
to $243,500. There was no immediate comment Friday by the White House.
A spokesperson for Pence also did not immediately provide comment."

Imagine that. LOL.
... Still think Trump is executive material?

CBS News reports:

"Federal agencies have
been directed to hold off enacting pay raises for top administration officials
that were reportedly set to go into effect on Saturday as 800,000 federal
workers remained furloughed or were working without pay. Departments were
told in a memo issued Friday from the acting director of the Office of
Personnel Management to hold off on enacting the raises during the partial
government shutdown. The raises -- an additional $10,000 a year -- were
set to go into effect because a pay freeze for top federal officials, including
Vice President Mike Pence and cabinet secretaries, was reportedly due to
expire Saturday, January 5. The 115th Congress had included an extension
of the pay freeze in bills funding the government, but those bills failed
to pass before that Congress expired and the 116th Congress was seated,
according to The New York Times. The scheduled raises appeared to be an
unintended consequence of the government shutdown, The Associated Press
reported. The latest guidance on the pay raises was issued Friday in a
memo from Margaret Weichert, the acting director of the Office of Personnel
Management (OPM)."

Who'd 'a 'thunk' it,
no? LOL.

NPR reports:

"President Trump and congressional
leaders met at the White House on Friday in what House Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
D-Calif., called a "lengthy and sometimes contentious" session and in which
the president threatened to keep the government shut down for months or
years. And at the end, the two sides seemed no closer to resolving their
standoff over funding a border wall that has forced a partial government
shutdown now hitting the two-week mark, with the possibility of lasting
much longer. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Trump said
he would "keep the government closed for a very long period of time — months
or even years." Addressing reporters later, Trump confirmed his threat.
"Absolutely I said that," adding, "I don't think it will" last that long,
"but I'm prepared." He also maintained that the two sides had a "very,
very productive meeting" and that "I think we've come a long, long way."

Once again, the lunatic
Trump nazi lied.

"Vice President Pence
said he, White House adviser Jared Kushner and Homeland Security Secretary
Kirstjen Nielsen would meet with congressional staffers over the weekend.
"This is national security," Trump said in a sometimes-rambling news conference
in the Rose Garden on Friday. "We're not playing games — we have to do
it."

Goddamned horse shit.
Simply, not true. The wall is a colossal waste of taxpayer dollars.
Perpetrated by GOP nazis who falsely claim to be 'conservatives.'
As previously discussed in this publication and elsewhere, there are far
better ways of providing border security. Trump is gutlessly pandering
to his sick sycophant base.

CBS News reports:

"More descriptions of
the heated exchanges between President Trump and congressional Democratic
leaders during their two-hour meeting Friday are emerging – and the partial
government shutdown wasn't the only topic on Mr. Trump's mind. Though the
president later described the meetings over border security as "productive,"
Democratic leaders told reporters afterward that the discussions had been
"contentious." According to a source familiar with the meeting, Mr. Trump
initiated the talks – held for the second time this week in the White House
Situation Room – by lambasting the shutdown impasse and again demanding
$5.6 billion for border security, which he declared to be the minimum figure
he needed to build the southern border wall he has been promising since
his presidential campaign. But Democratic leaders, House Speaker Nancy
Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, again refused to consider
that number. The president then told them he was willing to continue to
the shutdown "for months or even years" unless the Democrats agreed to
what he says is crucial funding for the southern border. "I did say that.
Absolutely, I said that," Mr, Trump later confirmed at a press conference,
when CBS News' Major Garrett asked him if he had in fact told them that
he'd keep the government shut for "years."

The lunatic Trump nazi
clearly owns the shutdown fiasco.

"During the meeting, Mr.
Trump also brought up the topic of impeachment, railing against calls by
some Democrats to impeach him, according to a source familiar with the
exchange. "Why does everyone want to impeach me, Nancy?" Mr. Trump asked.
No one wants to impeach you, Pelosi told the president and tried to move
the focus of the meeting back to border security. Although one freshman
Democrat, Rashida Tlaib, had said of the president to a group of progressives
this week, "We're going to impeach the motherf*****." Mr. Trump also tried
unsuccessfully to appeal to Pelosi's Roman Catholic faith in arguing for
wall funding."

Pathetic, isn't it?

"The Vatican has walls.
The Vatican has walls surrounding the city," Mr. Trump said, according
to the source. "You like the Vatican, Nancy?"

One sick son of a bitch.

"Let's change the subject,
sir," Pelosi replied. It was not the first time the president has brought
up the Vatican walls as a comparison in their discussions, administration
sources said. The president mentioned the Vatican during their meeting
earlier in the week, too. A source familiar with the exchange said the
president respects Pelosi and was just kidding with her to make a point.
But she seemed to take the comment "not well."

You think?
LOL.

"Pelosi and Homeland Security
Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen also had a contentious interaction over the
border security facts that Nielsen presented during the meeting, an administration
official confirmed. As she did during an earlier meeting in the week, Pelosi
interrupted Nielsen's presentation and challenged facts she cited about
the southwest border. "These aren't my facts," Nielsen replied." They are
just facts."

Horse shit. Unadulterated.

NBC News reports:

"President Donald Trump
threatened Friday to keep the government shut down for months or even years
if he doesn't get money for his border wall and said he is considering
declaring a national emergency to build the barrier if necessary."

An out of control lunatic.

"We can call a national
emergency because of the security of our country," he said in the White
House Rose Garden after a closed-door negotiating session with congressional
Democratic and Republican leaders. "I may do it. We can call a national
emergency and build it really quickly."

Think so? That
psychotic, Mr. 'President?'

"One way the president
could free up the bulk of the money he wants for the wall is through a
transfer of up to $4 billion in Defense Department funds. Technically,
that would require the Defense secretary to determine that the move is
in the national interest and to notify Congress — a move that in the past
has meant sign-off from top House and Senate lawmakers, but that Trump
might try to execute without that assent."

Would immediately trigger
a constitutional crisis.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"Incoming House Speaker
Nancy Pelosi said that she believed a sitting president could be indicted,
disagreeing with Justice Department guidelines. Pelosi made the comments
in an interview with "TODAY" Thursday morning, hours before she is set
to return to the speaker's office. "I do not think that is conclusive.
No, I do not," Pelosi said when asked if Special Counsel Robert Mueller
should adhere to DOJ guidelines that a sitting president cannot be indicted.
"I think that is an open discussion in terms of the law."

Forget? We have
no kings, queens, dictators in a supposedly democratic republic.
No one is above the law.

"Pelosi also said that
she was not ruling out the possibility of impeaching President Trump, depending
on Mueller's findings in his investigation into Russian meddling in the
2016 election. "We have to wait and see what happens with the Mueller report.
We shouldn't be impeaching for a political reason, and we shouldn't avoid
impeachment for a political reason," Pelosi said."

No one is above the law.
If the Mueller report indicates Trump has indeed engaged in criminal activity,
is not indicted, not removed from office through impeachment in the House
and conviction in the Senate, this country will find itself in a constitutional
crisis it has never seen before. Would likely lead to the unthinkable.
An unwanted dreaded second American revolution already catastrophically
looming.

"Pelosi is currently locked
in a stalemate with Mr. Trump and Senate Republicans over a funding bill
to end the partial government shutdown. Mr. Trump is unwilling to sign
any bill which does not include sufficient funding for a border wall. He
also told congressional leaders in a meeting Wednesday that he would not
sign a bill to open government agencies other than the Department of Homeland
Security, because it would make him "look foolish."

Too late for that.
LOL.

"Pelosi reiterated on
"TODAY" that wall funding was a nonstarter for Democrats. "We can go through
the back and forth. No. How many more times can we say no? Nothing for
the wall," she said. Pelosi also addressed her national unpopularity,
saying that Republicans demonized her because she is effective. "I'm effective
as a legislator -- I'm excellent at that. I'm effective politically, as
a fundraiser -- the best. And they have to take me down, and that's what
they've tried to do," she said."

Pelosi has been in office
way too long. Whatever happened to term limits? -- Not to neglect
to mention ole Sen. Mitch "The Bitch" McConnell in the Republican Party.
Both dinosaurs need to retire. Only good thing about Pelosi currently
is the fact she continues to stand up to the Trump nazi and his henchmen.
Other than that and like every other goddamned politician, she's not worth
a crap.

The Washington Post
reports:

"The House of Representatives
elected Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) as speaker for a second time on Thursday,
the first day of a new, divided Congress that is more likely to confront
President Trump. The 78-year-old California Democrat secured the votes
of 220 members of a total of 430 present. Rep. Kevin McCarthy (Calif.),
the top Republican in the chamber, received 192 votes. Pelosi tamped down
a challenge from a group of Democratic rebels clamoring for a generational
change in leadership. She took over as the partial government shutdown
was in its 13th day, with no end in sight to the dispute over Trump’s demand
for billions of dollars for a U.S.-Mexico border wall. By the end of the
day, Pelosi intends to push through legislation to reopen the government.
But it has already been declared dead on arrival in the Republican-led
Senate because it won’t meet Trump’s $5.6 billion demand."

Gridlock continues unabated.
So what else is new? LOL.

ABC News reports:

"President Donald Trump
is lashing out at fresh talk of impeachment as House Democrats assert their
new power in Congress. And he's blaming them for the recent big losses
in the stock market. In a Friday morning tweet, Trump claims he predicted
that if the Democrats were to take over the House that there would be "disruption
to the Financial Markets" and that "They only want to impeach me because
they know they can't win in 2020, too much success!"

What success? Where?
Lining the pockets at the top of the food chain? Transition of the
de facto fascist police state we live in to the Trump nazi's Fourth
Reich?

"As I have stated many
times, if the Democrats take over the House or Senate, there will be disruption
to the Financial Markets. We won the Senate, they won the House. Things
will settle down. They only want to impeach me because they know they can’t
win in 2020, too much success!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
January 4, 2019

"Trump has said similar
about impeachment before -- but these are his first comments since the
Democratic House takeover and they come after new House Speaker Nancy Pelosi
said in an interview that impeachment could be considered if not done for
"a political reason" -- and said a possible indictment -- was "an open
discussion."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"More troops are expected
to be deployed to the Southern border to construct or upgrade 160 miles
of fencing and provide medical care to a steady stream of migrant families
arriving from Central America, according to military sources. The deployment
and fence construction along the California and Arizona borders would be
paid for by the Pentagon, from the Department of Defense's discretionary
funding. The move comes as President Trump continues to demand $5 billion
from Congress for border security and a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Congressional Democrats oppose the move, and parts of the federal government
have been shut down because of the impasse. The Department of Defense has
not been affected by the shutdown."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-11-19

Think Trump hasn't lost
his mind? The Washington Post reports:

" Afghan officials on
Thursday denounced President Trump’s praise of the 1979 Soviet invasion
and occupation of their country, which he described this week as a fight
against terrorism, breaking with decades of Republican anti-communist tenets."

"According to the revisionist
historical account Trump delivered during a Cabinet meeting Wednesday,
“the reason Russia was in Afghanistan was because terrorists were going
into Russia.” He added: “They were right to be there. The problem is, it
was a tough fight.”

Jesus Christ. Day
is night, night is day, and shit smells perversely sweet in the world of
the Trump nazi. The lunatic has, indeed, struck again. Comfortable
with his finger on the nuclear button?

"The comments marked a
surprising split with U.S. conservatives dating back to President Ronald
Reagan, who saw the invasion as an attempt to spread communism and aided
insurgent forces fighting Soviet troops."

Those of us in the center
politically, as well as most Democrats, thought the same. Trump is
delusional. Unfit for office.

"The remarks also raised
eyebrows among officials in Afghanistan at a time when Kabul has voiced
frustration with Trump’s sudden announcement of a plan to withdraw up to
half of U.S. troops as peace talks with Taliban insurgents continue without
Afghan government involvement. A statement from President Ashraf Ghani’s
office described the battle against the Soviets as a “national uprising
for gaining freedom” and noted that the Soviet invasion was condemned by
the United Nations and the United States at the time."

Indeed, it was.
Roundly condemned at the time ubiquitously. Rightfully, so.

“All presidents of America
not only denounced this invasion but remained supporters of this holy jihad
of the Afghans,” read the statement, which added that the government would
be seeking clarity from the United States. Foreign Affairs Minister Salahuddin
Rabbani said the Soviet occupation violated Afghanistan’s national sovereignty.
“Any other claim defies historic’l facts,” he said on Twitter."

That's right. No
question. Trump has again proven he's an idiot. Clueless.
Out to lunch.

"The White House did not
immediately respond to a request for comment."

What the f--k could
they say?

"Saleh Mohammad Saleh,
a lawmaker representing Konar province, also noted that the United States
funded the rebels fighting the Soviets. To now hear Trump justifying the
invasion was “really strange,” he said."

It's insanity.

“Our war against the Soviets
was righteous. The international community stood by us. We gave more than
enough sacrifices,” Saleh told The Washington Post. “This man proves to
be more mad than people think.”

No question. He's
not fit. Presents an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and
constitutional rights and liberties. His rabid insanity has left
our allies in the hole, unsure of what to think, who to trust. Has
certainly emboldened the Syrians, Turks, and Russians.

"He also criticized the
plan to pull out at least half the 14,000 U.S. troops in the country as
bad for Afghanistan’s stability, especially in the midst of peace negotiations.
Sayed Ikramuddin Masoomi, a lawmaker representing Takhar province who also
fought the Soviets, said their occupation “was crystal clear and was specifically
for supporting [Moscow’s] puppet communists in Afghanistan.” Trump’s invitation
for Russia and India to join the fight against the Taliban — along with
Pakistan, where the militants have enjoyed safe haven — further complicated
matters, Masoomi told The Post."

The president has done
tremendous damage to international relations.

"Trump also puzzled officials
when he suggested the December 1979 invasion and decade-long occupation,
which ended in a Soviet withdrawal in 1989, was the principal reason the
Soviet Union collapsed two years later, and not a costly and escalating
arms race with the United States."

As repeatedly stated in
this publication and elsewhere, the Soviet Union had been floundering financially
for decades. Five Year Plan after Five Year Plan had failed.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"The Trump administration
is considering a far-reaching rollback of civil rights law that would dilute
federal rules against discrimination in education, housing and other aspects
of American life, people familiar with the discussions said."

Wouldn't expect anything
less of the Trump nazi, would we?

"A recent internal Justice
Department memo directed senior civil rights officials to examine how decades-old
“disparate impact” regulations might be changed or removed in their areas
of expertise, and what the impact might be, according to people familiar
with the matter. Similar action is being considered at the Education Department
and is underway at the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Under
the concept of disparate impact, actions can amount to discrimination if
they have an uneven effect even if that was not the intent, and rolling
back this approach has been a longtime goal of conservative legal thinkers.
Past Republican administrations have done little to erode the concept’s
application, partly out of concerns that the Supreme Court might disagree,
or that such changes would be unpopular and viewed as racist."

They are racist.
No question. An attempt by the Trump nazi to impose his racist national
socialist agenda. Hitler and Mussolini would have been proud.
... High-fiving on their fiery perches.

"Civil rights advocates
said diminishing this tool could have sweeping consequences. “Disparate
impact is a bedrock principle,” said Kristen Clarke, president and executive
director of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law. “Through
the courts, we’ve been able to marshal data and use the disparate-impact
doctrine as a robust tool for ferreting out discrimination.”

Can't have that, can we?
Certainly, not in a de facto fascist police-state, quickly transitioning
to the Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-11-19

Portends of things to
come. ABC News reports:

"Freshman Congresswoman
Rashida Tlaib is not apologizing for profane comments she made Thursday
about impeaching President Donald Trump."

Imagine that.
Doesn't your heart break? LOL.

"Tlaib, who was sworn
in as Michigan's representative from the 13th Congressional District on
Thursday, was speaking at an event for progressive advocacy group MoveOn.org
when she relayed a conversation with her son to the crowd: "And when your
son looks at you and says, 'Momma, look you won, bullies don’t win,' and
I said, 'Baby they don't,' because we’re gonna go in and impeach the motherf-----."

Nothing quite like
quickly, precisely, getting to the point, is there? LOL.

"This is not just about
Donald Trump. This is about all of us. In the face of this constitutional
crisis, we must rise.

— Rashida Tlaib (@RashidaTlaib)
January 4, 2019"

You go girl!
Stick it to the nazi. F--k the nazi bastard and any goddamned stuffed
shirt who doesn't like it. Tough shit. Time to stand up to
the rise of nazism.

"Tlaib, a mother of two,
has called for the president's impeachment in more-restrained language
previously, including in an op-ed for the Detroit Free Press on Thursday.
"President Donald Trump is a direct and serious threat to our country.
On an almost daily basis, he attacks our Constitution, our democracy, the
rule of law and the people who are in this country," she wrote, in an op-ed
with a byline shared by John Bonifaz, co-founder of Free Speech for People.
"Each passing day brings more pain for the people most directly hurt by
this president, and these are days we simply cannot get back. The time
for impeachment proceedings is now," the column concludes."

Be careful what you wish
for. Trump is insane. Pence is not.

Think the following doesn't
scare the living shit out of bigoted, racist, national socialist, fascist,
rabid nazis in the Republican Party? LOL. Get this:

"The 42-year-old Tlaib
has garnered attention as being part of a new crop of progressive lawmakers
pushing the Democratic Party further left. Tlaib and Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn.,
both sworn in Thursday, are the first two Muslim-American congresswomen
in history. Tlaib and Omar have regularly joined with Reps. Ayanna Pressley,
D-Mass., Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., Sharice Davids, D-Kan., and
Deb Haaland, D-N.M., as minority women newly elected to the 116th Congress.
Pressley is the first-ever black congresswoman from Massachusetts, Ocasio-Cortez
is the youngest woman ever elected at 29, and Davids and Haaland are the
first two Native American women elected to Congress."

NBC News reports:

"House Minority Leader
Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., criticized Pelosi for not distancing herself
from Tlaib’s comments. "I think this is a role as a leader and the speaker
to have a conversation with this member on whether she approves of this
or not," McCarthy told reporters Friday morning. “They’re using foul language,
they introduce that they just want to impeach the president. Over what
basis? We have government shut down right now. Where are their priorities?”

Where are yours,
you fascist son of a bitch? Take your head out of your ass.
Such language is precisely what you jackasses need to hear. Time
to wake up. ... Hear the rumble? An unwanted dreaded
second American revolution catastrophically looming. You and your
fellow GOP nazis are continuing to line the pockets of the top of the food
chain. Precisely, why the middle class is a vanishing, endangered
species. Not sustainable.

NPR reports:

"House Judiciary Committee
Chairman Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., who would preside over any impeachment proceedings,
was quick to bat down the comments in an interview on CNN on Friday morning.
"I don't like that language," Nadler said. "More to the point, I disagree
with what she said. It is too early to talk about that intelligently. We
have to follow the facts and get the facts." Pelosi also said she didn't
like the use of the expletive, saying at a town hall on MSNBC, "I probably
have a generational reaction to it," but added, "I'm not in the censorship
business. I don't like that language; I wouldn't use that language, but
I wouldn't establish language standards for my colleagues." The speaker
also tried to downplay the incident, saying, "I don't think it's anything
worse than what the president has said" and "I don't think we should make
a big deal out of it."

Goddamned f--king right.
Wake
up. ... Hear the rumble?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-11-19

Think the rabid Nazi Right
hasn't lost itself? Inspired by the Trump nazi and those who think
like him? NBC News reports:

"Around Christmas day,
Karl Krause and Daan Colijn started receiving emails from their fans, telling
them their pictures were being used to promote pedophilia in several viral
posts on Twitter. “They were outraged emails,” Krause said. “They were
saying, ‘How can that be? You are not pro-pedophilia. I know that.’” Krause
and Colijn are gay travel bloggers who tell their followers of gay-friendly
and LGBTQ-owned businesses and communities throughout the world. They had
no idea their faces were being used to promote an idea they found abhorrent.
One of their pictures, which features Krause and Colijn kissing in front
of a rainbow flag, had been stolen by a Twitter troll who went by the name
“Alex,” an account that was created in December. The account then tweeted
messages promoting pedophilia. “It’s frustrating to see someone misusing
our image for political purposes — basically supporting an argument against
the LGBTQ community with our work,” Krause said. The account successfully
spread across Twitter the deliberately defamatory idea that pedophilia
is an acceptable part of LGBTQ life. Over the last half-decade, that concept
has become a staple of far-right internet trolls on websites like the fringe
message board 4chan, and the troll’s message quickly gained internet traction.
Some far-right news websites wrote articles based on the tweet, including
The Federalist Papers, which published a post with the headline, ”Resistance
Member Says Pedophilia Is Sexual Orientation, Claims Bigotry.”

"We heard loud and clear
from the American people," Rep. John Sarbanes, D-Md., told reporters Friday.
"They feel left out and locked out from their own democracy." If the bill
ever becomes law, it's unlikely to happen this year. Republicans control
the Senate, President Trump is in the White House, and the GOP vehemently
opposes the basic approach of HR 1.

"Here's a rundown of the
bill's major provisions:

"Voter registration would
be made easier. Citizens could register online or get registered automatically,
via data from driver's licenses or other government sources. For federal
elections, states would have to provide same-day registration and at least
15 days of early voting. Election Day would be a federal holiday.The bill would crack
down on efforts to take voters off the rolls or prevent them from casting
ballots. Felons could regain their voting rights after finishing their
sentences. Federal elections would require paper ballots to prevent computer
tampering. State chief election officials couldn't get involved in federal
campaigns. The bill would declare an intent to revive core anti-discrimination
provisions of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 that were effectively shut
down by the Supreme Court six years ago. It would also state that failing
to vote isn't grounds for taking away a person's voter registration."

Can't have that, can we?
How else could Republicans so easily steal elections?

"Provisions from the Disclose
Act would expand the prohibition on foreign political money and mandate
the disclosure of the big donors behind politically active 501(c)(4) social
welfare organizations. Digital companies, like Facebook and Google, would
have to set up public databases cataloging political ad purchase requests
of $500 or more and create new measures to block ad buys by foreign nationals.
Presidential inaugural committees would have to disclose expenditures,
in addition to the existing requirement for donor disclosure. This is a
response to reports of unexplained spending by Trump's inaugural committee.
A new matching-fund program would support House candidates who agree to
raise only small-dollar contributions. (Similar provisions for Senate candidates
would have to come from the Senate.) The public financing system for presidential
candidates, largely irrelevant since 2012, would be updated. The bill would
quash "sidecar" superPACs that support individual candidates."

Can't have that, can we?
Republicans would be forced to compete, not steal elections.

"Presidents and vice presidents
would have to release their tax returns, something that happened routinely
in past administrations but not in this one. Presidents-elect would need
ethics plans for their transition teams and would have to file financial
disclosures within 30 days of taking office. The bill would tell presidents
and vice presidents they should act as if they are covered by the conflict-of-interest
law, which actually exempts them. Again, this wasn't an issue in previous
administrations because past presidents did not have the volume of business
entanglements that Trump has. House members would be barred from serving
on corporate boards. Rep. Chris Collins, R-N.Y., is under indictment for
allegedly using inside information he gained as a corporate board member.
House members would be forbidden to use taxpayer money to pay penalties
for employment discrimination. Former Rep. Blake Farenthold, R-Texas, used
$84,000 in federal funds to settle a sexual harassment claim by a former
staffer, said he would repay it, but changed his mind after leaving office.
Congress passed a bipartisan measure in December requiring members to pay
out of their own pocket for some settlements and court judgments in sexual
misconduct cases. The Supreme Court would have to get a code of ethics,
something it has never had. The laws regulating foreign and domestic lobbying
would be expanded."

This legislation would
force both major political parties to clean up their act. Clearly,
unacceptable to Republican national socialists, fascists, rabid nazis.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-11-19

Think the corporate community
full of straight shooters? Wake up. The following is appalling.
CBS News reports:

"The chief executive officer
of Hacienda HealthCare resigned Monday, just days after a vegetative patient
at a Hacienda nursing facility in Phoenix gave birth. Bill Timmons' resignation,
which was unanimously accepted by Hacienda's board of directors, came as
new allegations of past abuses emerged. CBS Phoenix affiliate KPHO-TV
was first to report on the birth. Hacienda has been under intense scrutiny
since the 29-year-old Native American woman had the healthy baby boy December
29, the station said. The patient has been in a vegetative state for 14
years, since a near-drowning incident, KPHO noted. In a statement,
Hacienda said Board Executive Vice President Gary Orman vowed that Hacienda
"will accept nothing less than a full accounting of this absolutely horrifying
situation, an unprecedented case that has devastated everyone involved,
from the victim and her family to Hacienda staff at every level of our
organization."

Amazing, isn't it?
These people are in a position of trust.

"Orman said in the statement
that Hacienda "will continue to cooperate with Phoenix Police and the investigating
agencies at all levels in every way possible." The station said it's
learned that she was raped several times. KPHO also spoke with a former
Hacienda manager who said Timmons insisted that a 1988 incident of abuse
of a different patient be covered up. The manager said female nurses were
standing around a nonverbal male patient's bed, talking inappropriately
about his genitalia. The ex-manager said when that was addressed at a subsequent
manager's meeting, Timmons slammed his fist on a table and said, 'No! No
one is going to report this,"' even though the law required that state
health officials be notified. "I was scared," the ex-manager recalled.
"Bill Timmons has a temper. And we knew not to mess with that temper because
people got fired." She said no one reported that incident solely out of
fear, and she believes there's been other abuse throughout the years. Parents
of patients began coming forward, saying they had concerns about the facility's
ability to keep their children safe."

If the allegations are
indeed true, this guy has no business in this position.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-11-19

Despite the shutdown,
tax checks will be going out. NPR reports:

"Remember that big tax
cut approved by Congress and the president? This is the first time it will
be reflected in most people's tax returns. Miller said the IRS already
had its hands full preparing for all the changes, updating its computer
software and writing new paper forms. And while that work is likely being
done by the IRS personnel who remain on the job, Miller said there is a
lot of other work that isn't, including training in the new tax law for
those who answer the IRS help line. "And even if the phones open," Miller
said, whether those who answer the calls will be sufficiently trained to
help taxpayers with questions "is a real issue in my mind." Another thing
the IRS isn't doing now is conducting any audits or other types of enforcement.
But Miller said the agency is still taking your money. "For example, if
you paid your or are about to pay your Jan. 15 estimated tax payment as
I did this past weekend," Miller said, "they are more than happy to accept
that money." In 2018, the IRS paid more than $212 billion in refunds in
the first three months of the year, an average of almost $2,900. Former
Commissioner John Koskinen said for many folks, receiving a timely refund
may not be a matter of life or death, but for some low-income taxpayers,
their refund is a big deal, calling it "the biggest financial event in
the year" for many."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-11-19

Gave the lying bastard
air time. Would you believe it? The Washington Post
reports:

"President Trump, who
cemented a national following on reality TV, is used to addressing the
American people on-screen and in prime time. So his speech Tuesday evening
from the Oval Office will find him squarely within his comfort zone. The
networks that have agreed to carry his remarks on immigration and his demands
for a wall at the southern border won’t have it so easy. They are in uncharted
waters, not because Trump is the first president to request airtime for
a major address. But because “Trump is unlike any president that the country
has ever had in the sense that he frequently and routinely says things
that are untrue,” said Mike Ananny, an expert in media and technology at
the University of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication
and Journalism."

Precisely, why they should
challenge him each and every time he does so.

"This presents a dilemma
for television networks and affiliated local stations around the country
aiming to fulfill their “role as first informers,” as a spokesman for the
National Association of Broadcasters described their function to The Washington
Post. At the same time, these outlets are under mounting pressure not to
propagate the president’s false statements, which have proliferated amid
his standoff with congressional Democrats over wall funding and the partial
government shutdown."

Tell it like it is.
Challenge him every time he does this.

“The challenge that the
media faces is you don’t want to give a platform to somebody who is known
to lie a lot, but at the same time, this is still the president of the
United States, who has a lot of power and continues to use that power,”
Ananny said in an interview with The Post. “The challenge the press has
is to call the president out for what I expect will be the lies he will
tell, because he tells them all the time, and to call them out in real
time.”

Goddamned right.
Exactly, what needs to be done. No slack. Expose him for whom
and what he is.

The Washington Post
reports:

"As he prepares to make
the case for a wall during a televised speech from the Oval Office tonight
and with a trip to Texas on Thursday, President Trump has already made
more false or misleading claims about immigration than any other subject.
Through the end of 2018, The Washington Post Fact Checker team documented
7,645 false or misleading claims made by Trump since taking office. Of
those, 1,130 were about immigration. Claims about foreign policy and trade
tied for second, with 822 claims, followed by claims about the economy
(768). The last week has brought a stream of additional falsehoods on the
topic that’s defined his term as much as any other – and prompted a partial
government shutdown now in its 18th day. To wit: -- All four living ex-presidents
have now gone on the record to rebut Trump’s claim, made in the Rose Garden
last Friday, that “some” of them have privately told him that they should
have built the wall. “I have not discussed the border wall with President
Trump, and do not support him on the issue,” Jimmy Carter said in a Monday
statement, echoing earlier denials from spokesmen for Bill Clinton, George
W. Bush and Barack Obama."

A congenital liar.
Cannot be trusted.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-11-19

Noose figuratively tightens.
NBC News reports:

"A Russian lawyer at the
center of the 2016 Trump Tower meeting between Russians and Trump campaign
officials has been charged with criminal obstruction of justice in a federal
civil case in Manhattan. Natalia Veselnitskaya, who was representing Russian-based
Prevezon Holdings in a fight against forfeiture of assets and money laundering
penalties, is accused of submitting an intentionally misleading statement
to the court. According to prosecutors, Veselnitskaya presented what she
said were investigative findings by the Russian government that exonerated
her client when she had actually helped draft the findings in secret cooperation
with a Russian prosecutor. The indictment is not directly related to the
Trump Tower meeting."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-11-19

Trump's out to lunch.
Get this. CBS News reports:

"President Trump said
he's prepared for the partial government shutdown to last months or even
years, after a meeting with top Republicans and Democrats that was followed
by an hour-long press conference in the White House Rose Garden.
Mr. Trump told CBS News' chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett that
he had said in the meeting that the shutdown could continue for over a
year. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer told reporters after the meeting
that Mr. Trump "said he'd keep the government closed for a very long time,
months or even years." "I did say that," Mr. Trump said. "I don't think
it will but I am prepared." However, Mr. Trump said that the meeting with
congressional leaders was "contentious" but "productive." Mr. Trump reiterated
that he wants $5.6 billion for the wall, contradicting members of his own
administration who offered Democrats a deal with $2.5 billion for the border
wall last week."

The Washington Post
reports:

"Lately it’s cold and
gray in Washington. The days are short, the nights are long and the president
has vowed to keep the government shut down for months, even years if he
does not get what he wants. A southern border lined with “artistically
designed steel slats,” apparently. For so many languishing federal workers
— public servants alternately characterized as deep state antagonists or
bloated bureaucrats — it’s all too much. Over two years, the Trump administration
has dealt blow after blow to government employees — budget cuts, hiring
freezes, inept Cabinet secretaries and, for some, open hostility to their
fundamental mission. President Trump promised to shake up Washington, and
he has. But the country’s 2 million federal workers have mostly soldiered
on, believing in the value of their work even if they question decisions
coming out of the White House. Until now. In what some see as the ultimate
insult, almost half of them were told to stay home. Do not pass “Go.” Do
not collect any dollars. Randy Erwin, national president of the National
Federation of Federal Employees, says many of his members and their departments
have been undermined since Trump took office. “A lot of these agencies
have been starved for resources, which has made carrying out the mission
difficult,” he explains. “With this shutdown, the mission has gone from
difficult to impossible.”

A massive failure of the
president. Worse, not fixing at getting any better.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-4-19

Think a Commander-In-Chief
who blatantly lies to the troops isn't a traitor? NBC News reports:

"President Donald Trump
told American troops in Iraq that he gave them a 10 percent raise, and
that it was their first pay hike in a decade — but he didn't, and it wasn't.
"You just got one of the biggest pay raises you've ever received," Trump
said in remarks at the Al Asad Air Base during his surprise trip to Iraq
on Wednesday, drawing cheers from the troops. "You haven’t gotten one in
more than 10 years — more than 10 years. And we got you a big one. I got
you a big one."

Trump lied:

Troops will receive a
2.6 percent — not 10 percent — pay hike for 2019; they got a 2.4 percent
pay hike in 2018. What's more, American troops have received a pay hike
every year for decades. 2019's raise is the largest in nine years. Military
pay raises are tied to increases [in] private-sector
wages, as calculated by the Department of Labor. Congress can also enact
raises that exceed that rate, as well. Trump insisted that he personally
had fought for this raise, because the troops put their lives on the line.
"They said, 'You know, we could make it smaller. We could make it three
percent. We could make it two percent. We could make it four percent.'
I said, 'No. Make it 10 percent. Make it more than 10 percent,'" Trump
told the troops. "It's been more than 10 years. That's a long time. And,
you know, you really put yourselves out there, and you put your lives out
there. So congratulations."

Trump is a congenital
liar. Regardless, the raise didn't even match true rate of inflation
for the bottom and middle class. Total sham by a clueless charlatan.
LOL.

ABC News reports:

"President Donald Trump
struck overtly political chords as he addressed service members during
a speech at the al-Asad Airbase in Iraq Wednesday -– his first visit to
an overseas military installation. Abandoning, as he has before, the traditional
maxim of politics ending at the water’s edge, the president said his military
strategy puts an end to the United States being "suckers" and hammered
Democrats for resisting his demands for border wall funding. The president
gave incorrect information to the assembled soldiers about their pay raise
this year and re-enacted a conversation with his military advisers who
he claimed had encouraged him not to remove American troops from Syria.
In past visits abroad the president has frequently admonished allies to
be more committed to fights taking place in their own backyards. During
the speech at al-Asad, Trump revisited that theme, saying that countries
must sometimes pay a "monetary price" for the United States’ military involvement,
"so we’re not the suckers of the world." "We’re no longer the suckers,
folks. And people aren’t looking at us as suckers… We’re respected again
as a nation," Trump continued."

The hell we are, Donny
boy. Direct opposite. That achingly clueless, Mr.
'President?' We're now the laughing stock of the world courtesy of
your abject lunacy, sir.

Trump remains hopelessly
delusional, out to lunch:

"The president noted that
"stopping terrorists from entering America’s shores" is part of a broader
strategy of homeland security. Then, taking a political turn, Trump said
his political rivals are only blocking a more robust border wall out of
blind opposition to everything he proposes. "I don’t know if you folks
are aware of what’s happening -- we want to have strong borders in the
United States, the Democrats don’t want to let us have strong borders.
Only for one reason. You know why? Because I want it," he said. Trump said
the "brilliant young faces, these warriors" in the crowd were inspiring
him to try a new strategy, in which he insists he does not want a wall
after all. "I think I’ll say, I don’t want the wall. And then they’re going
to give it to me! I figured out the solution," he said."

Jesus Christ. This
idiot has clearly lost his mind. Delusionally believe him fit for
office? Comfortable with his finger figuratively on the nuclear button?

"While praising the soldiers'
contribution to the causes of justice and peace, and stating that the U.S.
government will always protect its soldiers, Trump incorrectly took credit
for the annual pay raise the military received. "Is anybody here willing
to give up the big pay raise you just got?" he surveyed the crowd. "Raise
your hand please. Oh, I don’t see too many hands." He continued, citing
numbers that have since been debunked and declared untrue. "You haven’t
gotten [a raise] in more than ten years," he said. "And we got you a big
one. I got you a big one." As the independent fact-checking site PolitiFact
noted, the military has received a routine pay raise every year since at
least 1961. The 2.4 percent increase that went into effect in 2018 was
the largest since 2010, but they have continued apace every year. Trump
then falsely asserted that the pay increase was actually 10 percent, recounting
phony conversations in which "plenty of people" tried to impose a smaller
raise. "You had plenty of people that came up and said, 'you know, we can
make it smaller. We can make it 3 percent, we can make it 2 percent, we
can make it 4 percent.' I said, 'No, make it 10 percent. Make it more than
10 percent.'"

Goddamned liar.
Sick piece of human excrement.

"PolitiFact, which had
fact-checked earlier, similar utterances from the president, has rated
these claims Pants on Fire."

The Washington Post
reports:

"A day after President
Trump’s surprise visit to American forces in Iraq and Germany, questions
persisted about whether he had jeopardized the political neutrality of
the U.S. military by leveling partisan attacks and signing red “Make America
Great Again” hats for the troops. The president’s behavior — out of step
with that of his predecessors — highlighted the struggle Pentagon leaders
face in navigating an avowedly apolitical military through a hyperpartisan
era in U.S. politics, particularly under a commander in chief unafraid
of breaking with established norms. The struggle is likely to intensify
with the beginning of the 2020 presidential campaign and the departure
of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, who sought to prevent the military from
becoming a pawn in the nation’s tribal politics, at times unsuccessfully,
before his resignation last week."

Trump remains achingly
unfit for office:

"Trump defended his conduct
late Thursday. “CNN & others within the Fake News Universe were going
wild about my signing MAGA hats for our military in Iraq and Germany,”
he wrote on Twitter. “If these brave young people ask me to sign their
hat, I will sign. Can you imagine my saying NO? We brought or gave NO hats
as the Fake News first reported!” Critics also focused on the content of
Trump’s speeches during his trip. By making overtly political remarks to
uniformed troops who were excited to meet their commander in chief, Trump
risked the American public seeing the military as a partisan fan base,
the critics said, an image that may play well to his base but undermines
the trust all Americans put in their armed forces. “As long as the message
from the president is how wonderful it is that they are doing a service
for the country, that’s great,” said Charles Blanchard, a former general
counsel for the Army and the Air Force during the Clinton and Obama administrations.
“But when it turns into a political rally, what do people see? They see
enthusiastic soldiers clapping and yelling for a partisan message.”

The following misses the
point, however:

"The risk, Blanchard and
other experts said, is an erosion of public faith in a military that 74
percent of Americans expressed confidence in during a 2018 Gallup poll,
making it by far the most trusted government institution in American public
life. One of the ways the military historically has earned that trust is
by steering clear of politics and assuring Americans that uniformed officers
will carry out the lawful orders of whatever civilian leadership the country
elects without bias."

The issue is of far greater
significance than that. The problem is separation, more precisely,
lack thereof. Between civilians and the military. For damned
good reason. To ensure we don't turn into a banana republic run by
a military junta. Exactly, why the commander-in-chief is a civilian,
not a military commander.

Consider the following:

"Robert Dallek, a presidential
historian, said there’s always an element of politics when presidents visit
troops overseas but that Trump transgressed the line. “Lyndon Johnson
went to Vietnam and visited the troops,” Dallek said. “Did he attack the
Republicans? Did he attack his Democratic critics? No. It’s inappropriate.
But, once again, what you have with Trump is someone who bends the rules
and violates the norms in order to make himself look special or exceptional.”
The reason for the norms, according to Rosa Brooks, a law professor and
national security expert at Georgetown University, is to ensure that an
institution endowed by the American public with tremendous power “isn’t
being used for partisan ends.” “We have the line because we don’t want
to turn into a banana republic,” she said, noting that she was less worried
about a handful of troops meeting the president and forgetting their training
and more concerned about Trump “using an address to military personnel
as a partisan opportunity.”

The following is a problem:

"While the president cheered
troops with his visit to Iraq, thanking them for their sacrifices and wishing
them a merry Christmas, he otherwise approached his appearance much as
he would a political rally or event. Speaking onstage at al-Asad Air Base
in front of camouflage netting and a giant American flag, the president
sported a military-style bomber jacket and alternated between political
talking points and musings on foreign policy in between expressing appreciation
and gratitude. He even imported the traditional stagecraft of his political
rallies to Iraq, entering to the tune of Lee Greenwood’s “God Bless the
U.S.A.” and exiting to a rendition of the Rolling Stones’ “You Can’t Always
Get What You Want.”

Certainly, turned into
a political rally:

"During his remarks, Trump
attacked House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi by name, saying the only way
he could get the California Democrat to support a wall on the U.S. border
with Mexico was to say he no longer wanted one. He told the troops that
Democrats oppose strong borders and defense spending increases that help
take care of the military. At an earlier news conference on base, he said
that “we have a problem with the Democrats because Nancy Pelosi is calling
the shots.”

Worse? Get this.
Trump undermined the chain of command in front of its subordinates, the
troops:

"In another departure
from traditional decorum, Trump questioned the judgment of the chain of
command above the forces he met in Iraq, saying he had demanded a withdrawal
from neighboring Syria but kept receiving requests from “our generals”
to remain there for six more months. Finally, he suggested, he became fed
up and told them “we’re doing it a different way,” suggesting the officers
were wrong."

Shameless hucksterism:

"During a visit to the
base’s dining facility, Trump signed several “Make America Great Again”
hats that service members had brought with them and also signed a patch
for one service member that read “Trump 2020.” At Ramstein Air Base in
Germany, where the president stopped on the way home, photographs posted
by a Bloomberg News reporter to social media showed uniformed troops holding
the red hats and one officer carrying a Trump campaign banner."

Our clueless nazi fuhrer
certainly should have known better:

"The Pentagon declined
to say whether those activities amounted to a violation of military rules
requiring active-duty troops to stay apolitical, referring the query to
local units. U.S. Air Forces Europe, in a statement to Stars and Stripes,
said those who brought the MAGA hats didn’t violate rules because “there
is no rule against airmen bringing personal items to be signed by the president.”
The rules are set out in Defense Department Directive 1344.10 and emphasized
in training with American service members. The directive, among other things,
prohibits active-duty service members from participating in political rallies,
giving the appearance of endorsing a candidate or even displaying partisan
political signs, posters and banners on a private vehicle or one’s house."

Exactly, what effectively
happened during the president's visit. The troops shouldn't be held
accountable. Trump should be. Our nazi fuhrer turned
the visit into a political rally.

"The visit to Iraq and
Germany wasn’t the first time that Trump faced criticism for politicizing
the U.S. military. In his first days in office, he signed a travel ban
on people from predominantly Muslim nations in the Pentagon’s Hall of Heroes,
a choice of venue that made it seem as though the policy decision carried
the military’s imprimatur. Last year, in a commissioning ceremony for the
USS Gerald Ford, Trump asked a crowd that included uniformed naval officers
to call Congress and advocate both increased defense spending and his policy
on health care. Since the campaign, Trump has viewed the military’s rank
and file as his base. “We had a wonderful election, didn’t we?” he said
at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa in February 2017. “And I saw those numbers,
and you liked me, and I liked you.”

Not all Republicans are
clueless:

“It’s important to the
troops and morale that the commander in chief was willing to go out and
see it with his own eyes,” said Rick Tyler, a Republican strategist. “But
he diminished himself and the office by using it as an opportunity to politicize.”
The advantage Trump has over his political rivals, Tyler said, is that
he is commander in chief and carries the respect of the office. “You merely
have to act the role,” Tyler said, “and you get all the political advantages
without politicizing it.”

Trump is too aggressively
stupid to understand this most salient, insightful point.

NBC News reports:

"On his trip to Iraq this
week, President Trump exposed the faces of members of U.S. Navy SEAL Team
5, possibly putting them in danger, an expert said. During his surprise
post-Christmas visit to troops in Iraq, his first trip to a combat zone
since he was sworn in last year, the president and First Lady Melania Trump
entered the dining hall Wednesday at the Al-Asad base west of Baghdad to
greet about 100 troops. U.S. Navy Lt. Cmdr. Kyu Lee told Trump he is the
chaplain for SEAL Team 5. Lee later said Trump told him, "Hey, in that
case, let’s take a picture."

"The ensuing photos and
video revealed the presence of the special operations forces, something
some experts have said is generally frowned upon if not verboten in war
zones."

Yet, the Defense Department
brushed all concern away:

"However, the Office of
the Secretary of Defense said in a statement that no rules were violated.
"The special operators voluntarily participated in this open press event,"
the secretary's public affairs arm stated. "There was no security violation."

Think not?

"Retired U.S. Navy Admiral
James Stavridis addressed the matter Thursday on "MSNBC Live with Hallie
Jackson." "It's important he's a SEAL," Stavridis said of the chaplain.
"That's a part of the force that is historically supposed to be very, very
cloistered, very much in the shadows. If it wasn't a SEAL, it wouldn't
be a big deal. Navy SEAL, that surprised me." Retired U.S. Navy Chief Petty
Officer Malcolm Nance is an intelligence consultant for U.S. special operations
forces who said by email that the presence of SEAL Team 5 members should
not have been revealed. "The fact is they are a special operations force
in a combat zone with a combat role," said Nance, who has also served as
a counter-terrorism analyst for NBC News and MSNBC. "The reason their identities
are protected is in case of capture." The former Navy intelligence operative
said the exposure would increase their value if they're ever captured by
enemies. "Most of our enemies, including Russian-backed Syrian forces,
have very sophisticated social media organizations that follow the activities
of these teams very closely," Nance said. "If protocols have been followed,
by digitizing the faces of the individuals (as every other president has
done) this would not be an issue," he said. "Now those sailors are a[t]
far higher risk while in Iraq just because they posed with Trump."

Yet, others brushed off
all concern.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-4-19

One has to wonder if presidential
security regarding Trump's recent trip to visit troops in Iraq was indeed
sufficient. NBC News reports:

"President Donald Trump's
unannounced visit to Iraq was no surprise to airplane buffs. While the
trip was shrouded in secrecy for security reasons, an airplane aficionado
spotted the distinctive blue and white Boeing jet flying over England,
and posted pictures of it on his Flickr account Wednesday morning. When
the president is on board, the VC-25A plane — a military version of the
747 — uses the call sign Air Force One. The plane spotted over England,
however, was using the call sign RCH358. Online detectives figured out
the plane's disguised call numbers, and tracked its movements — even sharing
them on Twitter.

"Is
Trump on a surprise visit to Afghanistan? Turkey? Flight trackers show
that one of two planes used for Air Force One (92-9000/VC-25) using what
appears to be a fake HEXCODE of AE47C4, departed Andrews Air Force base
at midnight. Transponders changed or disabled near Romania. pic.twitter.com/JtVzEPUoLv —
WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) December 26, 2018

"RCH358
left Joint Base Andrews around 0500 UTC & pinged up on my own receiver
here in the UK around 1100 UTC. ?? pic.twitter.com/GPTziM8o94 —
CivMilAir (@CivMilAir) December 26, 2018"

Amazing, isn't it?
Security of all people on board that aircraft was clearly in jeopardy.
What could security planners possibly been thinking?

"WikiLeaks then got in
on the act, tweeting out a map of the route the plane was taking. "The
Boeing 747 usually used by Trump for Air Force One is currently moving
towards Turkey," one of the tweets said. That led to speculation online
that Trump was going to visit troops in Afghanistan, or to pay his respects
to Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who reportedly recently told
the president that Turkey would take responsibility for finishing off the
Islamic State if the U.S. pulled out of Syria. WikiLeaks then tweeted that
the plane's transponders — the device used to to track plane flights —
were either changed or disabled near Romania."

Major lapse in security:

"Paul Reickhoff, an Iraq
War veteran and founder and CEO of Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America,
questioned the White House's operational security measures on Twitter,
saying it's "a bit troubling that so many folks seem to already know about
this if it hasn't happened already."

Sources
telling me Trump’s on his way to visit troops—possibly in Iraq. Better
late than never. But also a bit troubling that so many folks seem to already
know about this if it hasn’t happened already. #OpSec anyone? —
Paul (PJ) Rieckhoff (@PaulRieckhoff) December 26, 2018"

Appalling, isn't it?

"The online tracking appeared
to thwart, to an unusual degree, the security protocols that often have
kept the plane's movements obscured on visits to war zones in the past.
The plane's shades were drawn and lights were out for much of the 11-hour
trip for security reasons, according to a Reuters reporter who was on the
flight. Trump, meanwhile, stayed off Twitter for the duration of the flight
— which to many on social media was also a tell that something was up,
given his prolific tweeting in recent days."

Trump is an idiot.
Get this:

"Asked if he'd had any
concerns about making the trip, Trump said, "Absolutely." "I had concerns
for the institution of the presidency, because, not for myself personally,
I had concerns for the first lady, I will tell you," he said. "But if you
would have seen what we had to go through, with the darkened plane with
all windows closed, with no lights on whatsoever, anywhere, pitch black,
I’ve never seen that, been on many airplanes, all types and shapes and
sizes, I’ve never seen anything like it."

Proof positive, -- 'stupid
is as stupid does.' Ferociously pointed question. Where the
hell were security planners? Out to lunch?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-4-19

Trump's visit to Iraq
did not sit well with Iraqi lawmakers. Imagine that. ABC News
reports:

"Iraqi lawmakers Thursday
demanded U.S. forces leave the country following a surprise visit by President
Donald Trump that politicians denounced as arrogant and a violation of
national sovereignty. Trump's trip to U.S. servicemen and women at al-Asad
Airbase in western Iraq on Wednesday was unannounced and the subject of
extreme security, which is routine for presidential visits to conflict
regions. But it came at a time when containing foreign influence has become
a hot-button issue in Iraqi politics, and it provoked vociferous backlash.
Iraqi lawmakers were smarting after the U.S. president left three hours
after he arrived without meeting any officials, drawing unfavorable comparisons
to the occupation of Iraq after the 2003 invasion. "Trump needs to know
his limits. The American occupation of Iraq is over," said Sabah al-Saidi,
the head of one of two main blocs in Iraq's parliament. Trump, al-Saidi
added, had slipped into Iraq, "as though Iraq is a state of the United
States." While Trump didn't meet with any officials, he spoke with Prime
Minister Adel Abdul-Mahdi by phone after a "difference in points of view"
over arrangements led to a face-to-face meeting between the two leaders
to be scrapped, according to the prime minister's office. The visit could
have unintended consequences for American policy, with officials from both
sides of Iraq's political divide calling for a vote in Parliament to expel
U.S. forces from the country."

Trump and his henchmen
are idiots. Have no clue:

"The president, who kept
to the U.S. air base approximately 100 kilometers (60 miles) west of Baghdad,
said he had no plans to withdraw the 5,200 troops in the country. He said
Ain al-Asad could be used for U.S. air strikes inside Syria following his
announcement last week to withdraw U.S. troops from there. The suggestion
ran counter to the current sentiment of Iraqi politics, which favors claiming
sovereignty over foreign and domestic policy and staying above the fray
in regional conflicts. "Iraq should not be a platform for the Americans
to settle their accounts with either the Russians or the Iranians in the
region," said Hakim al-Zamili, a senior lawmaker in al-Saidi's Islah bloc
in Parliament."

Clearly, the Trump nazi
delusionally believes he rules the world.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-4-19

The Kurds are not
happy campers. NPR reports:

"The green landscape of
rural northeastern Syria is home to wild ducks and donkeys, villagers tending
cattle — and U.S. military bases housing 2,200 troops. American soldiers
patrol the countryside in armored vehicles and hover overhead in Black
Hawk helicopters. In the Kurdish-majority area known as Rojava, towns are
bursting with Christmas decorations.

"But President Trump's
sudden decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria has overshadowed most
of this year's celebrations. Syrians who have made the U.S. troops feel
welcome here say they are shocked and upset by the news. Some are calling
it a "stab in the back." This is the part of Syria where U.S. troops have
backed up local fighters in forcing ISIS out of nearly all the nearby cities
and towns they once held. The Syrians — led by Kurdish fighters — have
lost thousands in the fight, and some feel their sacrifices aren't being
acknowledged or repaid."

Why are reporters denied
access to American troops? Is Trump afraid of what they may hear?

"This week, NPR tried
to gain access to a few of the U.S. bases but was told the American troops
there are not authorized to comment. Syrian civilians working and living
near the bases, though, spoke openly about how they felt — and many say
they feel betrayed by Trump's decision. Hatem Hassan, 37, runs a money
exchange shop in Qamishli. He says Trump's decision hits close to home.
"If they will leave, we will curse them as traitors," he says. "The Kurds
helped them to destroy ISIS. ... I have seven people from my family who
were fighting ISIS and who were killed. And they were very young, not even
in their 20s." Haji Haidar, 39, is standing outside his blacksmith shop.
Everyone here is angry and scared, he says. "ISIS is not yet defeated and
there are still many sleeper cells to take care of," warns Mustafa Bali,
a spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces."All the work they did together,
and now they are leaving so suddenly," he says. "I don't understand it.
People are afraid that they will just sell the country to someone."

Trump clearly, deliberately,
concertedly failed to consider the ramifications of a sudden pullout.

"The Syrian Democratic
Forces, the U.S.-backed Kurdish group, says it is scrambling to put together
a backup plan now. Two SDF spokesman told NPR they heard the news of the
U.S. withdrawal last week the same way as everyone else: while watching
television. The SDF includes Christian fighters and commanders who may
not make it home for Christmas this year, as they prepare for whatever
comes next.

"But an ISIS resurgence
isn't the only — or even biggest — concern now facing residents of northeastern
Syria: They mainly fear an attack from Turkey. The stakes are especially
urgent for Syria's Kurds, who make up the bulk of the population in the
northeast, along the Turkish border, and have been the closest U.S. allies.
Turkey has been threatening to attack the Kurds here. It views them as
terrorists because of their links to militants who stage attacks in Turkey.
Turkey has criticized the U.S. for helping the Kurds shore up control of
this region and has indicated it could invade as soon as U.S. forces are
out. If Turkey chooses to invade, the SDF may have to abandon fighting
ISIS, Bali says. "You can't have your forces being busy fighting ISIS while
another country comes in from behind and attacks your people and forces,"
he says."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-4-19

Trump can't refrain from
lying. NBC News reports:

"Just days after claiming
that "many" furloughed government workers told him they're fine with not
getting paid so long as he secures additional funding for a border wall,
President Donald Trump tweeted Thursday morning that "most of the people
not getting paid are Democrats." Trump, who offered no support for his
claim, fired off the tweet early Thursday morning as the government shutdown
entered its sixth day. Trump said on Christmas Day he will not reopen the
government until he gets $5 billion in funding for a wall along the U.S.-Mexico
border.

"Have the Democrats finally
realized that we desperately need Border Security and a Wall on the Southern
Border. Need to stop Drugs, Human Trafficking, Gang Members & Criminals
from coming into our Country. Do the Dems realize that most of the people
not getting paid are Democrats?

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
December 27, 2018"

The 'opposition' party
continues to stand its ground:

"Democrats have said they
won't provide Trump with that funding, and indicated they won't go beyond
the $1.6 billion that has already been allocated for border wall purposes.
Republicans and Democrats reached an agreement last week on a stopgap spending
measure to prevent a shutdown — a deal that the White House signaled Trump
would sign. But at the 11th hour, Trump scuttled the agreement because
it did not provide additional funding for a border wall."

ABC News reports:

"President Trump threatened
to shut down the entire southern border with Mexico and cut off aid to
Central American countries if his demands for more border wall funding
aren't met in the coming weeks."

"Trump tweeted Friday
that if "Obstructionist Democrats" don't give him the billions of dollars
he is asking for he will "close the Southern Border entirely.

"We will be forced to
close the Southern Border entirely if the Obstructionist Democrats do not
give us the money to finish the Wall & also change the ridiculous immigration
laws that our Country is saddled with. Hard to believe there was a Congress
& President who would approve! —
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 28, 2018

"Trump added that closing
the southern border, which would dramatically impact trade and people living
on the border, would be a "profit making operation."

Do it, Donny boy, do
it. What are you waiting for? Idiotic move. Billions
lost. You own this, you psychotic idiot.

"Acting Chief of Staff
Mick Mulvaney told reporters on Friday that the president is threatening
to shut down the border because "it's the only way we can get the Democrats'
attention."

Like your fuhrer,
the Trump nazi, you're an idiot, Mr. Mulvaney. Democrats need to
find a pair of cajones and stand firm on this goddamned insanity.
Forget? Walls can be gone over, under, or through. Aggressive
stupidity at its very worst. Will cost taxpayers dearly for something
that will ultimately miserably fail.

"Earlier on Fox News,
Mulvaney said the president canceled his New Year's Eve plans at Mar-a-Lago
in Palm Beach, Florida, to stay in Washington for potential negotiations.
"We are here and they know where to find us," Mulvaney said, adding, "The
discussions have broken down, we expect this to go on for a while, we expect
to manage it." "We could be in this for the long haul," Mulvaney said."

You and your fellow national
socialist, fascist, nazi Republicans own this fiasco.

"The president also threatened
that he would cut off aid to three Central American countries -- Guatemala,
Honduras and El Salvador -- for being the source of the migrant caravans.
Reports emerged that a new caravan from Honduras is preparing to leave
for Mexico. The president has threatened to cut off aid before but the
administration recently struck a deal with Mexico to send billions of dollars
in aid to Central American countries to curb migration. "Honduras, Guatemala
and El Salvador are doing nothing for the United States but taking our
money. Word is that a new Caravan is forming in Honduras and they are doing
nothing about it. We will be cutting off all aid to these 3 countries -
taking advantage of U.S. for years!” Trump tweeted."

The United States is directly
responsible for this ongoing debacle. Goes back at least five decades
since the Nixon era, -- then the Reagan Administration after that.
Deliberate interference by the US in Latin American affairs, ostensibly
to block increased Leftist activity. You nazi Republican bastards
created this ongoing fiasco, now don't know what to do about the monster
you cluelessly created.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-4-19

About time Democrats got
up off their sorry asses and pressured the Trump nazi and his henchmen.
NBC News reports:

"Democratic lawmakers
on Wednesday called for congressional hearings after the deaths of two
migrant children in U.S. custody in one month and said they were working
to draft legislation requiring health standards for immigration agencies.
“We believe there should be a congressional investigation as soon as Congress
comes back into session,” Rep. Joaquín Castro, D-Tex., the incoming
chairman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, said on a call with reporters
Wednesday afternoon. He added that "systemic failures" at immigration agencies
were contributing "to serious injury and illness and to the deaths of these
migrants." Rep. Raul Ruiz, D-Calif., called on immigration authorities
to conduct more “meaningful medical screenings” after the deaths of 8-year-old
Felipe Alonzo-Gomez on Christmas Eve and 7-year-old Jakelin Caal Maquin
earlier this month. The Trump administration has yet to name the boy who
died, but Congressional Democrats identified him as Felipe Alonzo-Gomez.
Those medical screenings would include a questionnaire, a review of any
symptoms, medical history, a check of a migrant’s vital signs and consultation
with medical personnel, Ruiz said. “We need to think like physicians and
think like humanitarian aid specialists and we need to match the response
to the needs that we are seeing,” he said."

Empty rhetoric continues
to come from Democrats who remain determinedly clueless as to how to handle
the Trump nazi and his imposition of the Fourth Reich. This
lunatic, fascist piece of human excrement in the Oval Office has no heart,
no soul, no principles. Remains determinedly amoral.

"Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.,
the incoming speaker, also called for a congressional investigation into
the deaths. "Democrats call on Homeland Security’s Inspector General to
immediately open an investigation into Felipe Alzono-Gomez’s death,” she
said in a statement. “The Congress will also investigate this tragedy and
the heartbreaking death of Jakelin Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin, to seek justice
and ensure that no other child is left to such a fate.”

Republican national socialists,
fascists, nazis couldn't care less. Have become as amoral as their
fuhrer.

"Meanwhile, Homeland Security
Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen said in a statement Wednesday that she has asked
the Coast Guard Medical Corps to assess CBP’s medical programs and make
recommendations for improvements. Both CBP and ICE are under the Department
of Homeland Security. "This tragedy, the death of a child in government
custody is deeply concerning and heartbreaking," she said."

You, your fuhrer
the Trump nazi, and the rest of his henchmen are directly responsible.

"I will be traveling to
the border later this week to see first-hand the medical screenings and
conditions at Border Patrol stations," she said."

Why not do the right thing?
Resign in disgrace. Your holding facilities are gulags. Unfit
for livestock, let alone people.

"She added that there
were six deaths in CBP custody in fiscal year 2018, none of which were
children, and prior to the two deaths this month it had been more than
a decade since a child died in their custody."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-4-19

Drastic reduction of refugee
admissions to the United States in 2018. NPR reports:

"It's well known that
President Trump wants a wall on the southern U.S. border. He insists it's
urgent to curb illegal immigration. But more than any wall, new barriers
to legal immigration are likely to have more bearing on people trying to
enter the United States. The United States is rejecting more legal immigrants
than ever before. The first casualty in 2018 was the U.S. refugee resettlement
program, says Larry Yungk, a former official at the U.N. refugee agency
and now co-chair of the advisory committee of Church World Service's refugee
program. "This is one where the knobs were in reach," he explains, referring
to the president's prerogative to set the yearly refugee admission cap.
After framing refugees as a security threat, Trump slashed resettlement
admission numbers for a second year to a historic low, says Yungk. Just
22,491 refugees were resettled in the U.S. in fiscal year 2018, roughly
half the 45,000 cap."

Mark of a xenophobic nazi
dictator.

"He has managed to convince
people that somehow, out of the 75 million persons who enter the U.S. each
year who are not American citizens, refugees are the ones we should worry
about the most," he says. Now, the refugees approved for resettlement are
mostly from Africa and European countries from the former Soviet Union.
More than 2,500 were from Ukraine in fiscal 2018, according to the State
Department Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration. At the same time,
the number of Muslim refugees is down by 90 percent since fiscal year 2017,
and Latin American refugee numbers are down by almost 40 percent, even
though these asylum seekers are coming from regions that produce some of
the highest numbers of refugees due to civil wars and violence. Just 62
Syrian refugees were resettled in the U.S. in the fiscal year that ended
Sept. 30."

Land of the free?
Home of the brave? Hell no. Land of the enslaved. Home
of the gutless. Under a lunatic nazi dictator.

"The cuts have been devastating
for resettlement agencies. There are nine voluntary agencies that receive
federal funding based on the number of refugees they resettle. Drastic
budget cuts and staff layoffs began in 2018 and are expected to continue
through 2019. "This is very much the dismantling of the program's infrastructure
in the U.S.," says Jennifer Quigley, an advocacy strategist with Human
Rights First in Washington, D.C. She believes the president's aim is to
zero out the refugee resettlement program. "We would not be surprised if
we do not have this program at the end of this administration," she says."

"When Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo announced in September that the U.S. would admit no more than
30,000 refugees in fiscal year 2019, he said the lower refugee ceiling
would help improve national security."

Think so? Delusionally
believe the lie? Wake up. With exception of 9/11 which
could have been prevented had our goddamned government did full background
checks on the hijackers and heeded warnings of the flight schools, all
domestic terror since 9/11 has been homegrown. Instead, gutless
nazis in both major political parties obliterated liberty via the USA 'Patriot'
Act, Homeland 'Security' Act, 'Real' Id Act, etc.. Traitors.
Now live in a de facto fascist police-state, quickly transitioning to the
Trump nazi's Fourth Reich.

"Still, restricting the
refugee program appears part of a larger administration aim to restrict
or close paths to legal immigration, advocates say. A variety of programs
are targeted and have new restrictions. The Department of Homeland Security
has its highest rate of denial on record for foreign-born U.S. residents
applying for work permits, travel documents and applications based on family
reunification and petitions for fiancés. New policies slow or stop
the admission of skilled foreign workers and entrepreneurs. The number
of international students in the U.S. has declined in the past two years,
in part because of visa restrictions."

Raw nazism imposed by
the Trump nazi and his henchmen. Gutlessly tolerated by the hopelessly
cowardly sheep in our formerly great country.

"The U.S. military has
also abruptly discharged some foreign-born recruits who were promised an
expedited path to citizenship. Hundreds of thousands of longtime U.S. residents
have lost temporary protected status and are now subject to deportation.
The TPS program, established by Congress in 1990, was created to offer
protections to foreign nationals of countries devastated by natural disasters
or armed conflict. It allows them to get work permits, pay taxes and establish
new lives in the U.S."

Trump has disgraced not
only himself, but the Founders who must be spinning in their graves.
Wouldn't recognize the democratic republic they created all those years
ago.

"Even as the Trump administration's
hard-line immigration policies have triggered a crisis on the southern
border, another less-known crisis is brewing along the northern U.S. border
with Canada. Fearing Trump's crackdown, thousands have entered Canada at
unmarked locations along the border this year. The largest group is Haitians,
fearing deportation with the cancellation of TPS protection, followed by
Nigerians, Turks, Syrians and Eritreans. The wave of asylum seekers has
swamped Canada's immigration system. Canada's Prime Minister Justin Trudeau
blames his country's migration woes on the U.S. policies. In an interview
last week, Trudeau cited "domestic realities within the political context
in the United States" for driving people to flee across the Canadian border.
The stream of asylum seekers has become a political wedge issue for Trudeau,
who is up for re-election in the fall of 2019."

Our lunatic nazi fuhrer
in the Oval Office, his henchmen, and achingly sick sycophants are ferociously
reminded our UNDOCUMENTED white European forebears arrived in this continent
centuries ago, STOLE this land from its native inhabitants, then BROKE
every goddamned treaty signed.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-4-19

The above barely scratches
the surface. The problem of xenophobia remains alive and well in
our formerly great country. Consider the following. The
Washington Post reports:

"Lisa and Kenny Priddle
are among 11 families who moved to Dothan, Ala., when a millionaire offered
each up to $50,000 to attract more Jews to his hometown. She was already
going to be late to the church, where once again she would try to explain
her religion, even though it seems like most people in her town never really
get it. And now the latkes are burning. Lisa Priddle wonders why she is
trying so hard, why she is prepping and cooking and buying Hanukkah dreidels
for people in the small Southern city that she and her husband moved to
because a Jewish millionaire paid them to come build up the Jewish community
there. Given an offer of up to $50,000, she and Kenny picked up their lives
and came to Alabama, but now they must think seriously about the anti-Semitism
they’ve experienced, about moments you don’t forget, about that lingering
feeling of being on the outside.

"Lisa and Kenny pack up
the latkes and drive to the massive Methodist church that dwarfs the Priddles’
synagogue across the street. The Jewish couple committed when they came
here to share their faith with whomever they could, and on this day, they
had been invited to the church to explain Hanukkah to a group of about
a dozen adults with mild dementia. Lisa walks in flustered as the participants
chat at round tables above the strains of a Christmas soundtrack. She starts
to speak slowly. “We are Jewish,” she says. “I moved here eight years ago
from New York, where there were lots of Jewish people.” Alabamians, she
tells her listeners brightly, “have always been very welcoming and kind
to us.” It’s not entirely true, she thinks, as Kenny circles each table,
handing each participant a latke and a shiny new dreidel."

The ignorance of some
in our formerly great country indeed knows no bounds. Get this:

"One Alabamian shocked
Kenny by stating her belief that Jews make hamburgers with babies’ blood.
Another, who had hired Kenny as a home health-care aide, asked him recently
where he went to church, and when he told her that he was Jewish, he got
a call from the agency that night saying the patient no longer considered
Kenny a good “fit” to care for her."

Yet, these hopelessly
ignorant, achingly clueless bastards claim to be Christians. Fail
to recognize the Head Honcho of their religion was indeed a Jew.

"Lisa looks out at the
people in the room, at the glittering miniature Christmas tree on every
table, and decides then and there to share some of her fears as a Jew in
America. She brings up the killing of 11 Jews at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life
synagogue in October. “It’s a vulnerable time for all of us as we gather
together in groups now,” she says, her eyes flitting across the tables
to see how people are reacting. Then, hopefully: “Does anyone have any
questions?” The room is silent at first, and as Kenny tries to fill the
gap by offering seconds on latkes, Lisa wonders whether they understood
her or just don’t know what to say. A woman at the front table pipes up:
“Can you talk about matzoh?” she asks. Another woman asks about potato
knishes and gefilte fish. That’s all. A few minutes later, Lisa and Kenny
toss the rest of the burned latkes in the church’s trash can and walk away,
not sure whether they made any difference. “I don’t know why I got so nervous,”
she says."

Goes on and on.
Extremely difficult decision to be made:

"Lisa sighs. “I have waffled
on this so much.” Kenny leans back in his chair. “When you know, you let
me know,” he says. “I think I’m ready to go back.” The sun had set. It
was time to light candles, another night of Hanukkah. Another night of
singing those Hebrew words that had helped Lisa discover as a child what
was always in her soul. “I feel more relaxed already,” Lisa whispers, as
they sit in the dark, staring at the flickering flames, gazing at the menorah’s
metalwork figure of a man wrapping his arms lovingly around his wife. Kenny
gave her this candle holder when he proposed. They took it to Dothan. They
clung to their vision of a Jewish home, and they clung to each other, and,
now, in the glow of the candles, Lisa knows what will come next. They will
leave Alabama."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-4-19

Trump's achilles' heel
could very well be his defunct Foundation. NBC News reports:

"The Trump Foundation
and the Trump Organization shared much more than President Donald Trump's
last name. And that's why, experts said, the New York state investigations
into the charity could envelop the president's namesake business. "Nothing
but overlap here. It all was held so tightly by he and his family members,"
NBC News/MSNBC legal analyst Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor,
told NBC News. "I don't think there will be any investigative daylight
between what the New York state authorities and investigators are looking
into with respect to the foundation vs. the organization vs. anything else
involving business dealings that have the name 'Trump' attached to them,"
he said, predicting that the foundation investigation will "crash through
(the Trump Organization) like a Mack Truck."

Level of corruption within
the Foundation is stunning. Trump used the charity as his personal
piggy bank.

"The office of New York
Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced last week that the foundation
— which Underwood said had exhibited a "shocking pattern" of illegality
— agreed to dissolve and give away its assets to other nonprofit organizations
within 30 days. The deal won't stop the civil lawsuit that Underwood filed
in June against the foundation, which was formed in 1987. The AG's office
continues to seek nearly $3 million in restitution plus additional fines
as part of the suit, as well as a ban on Trump's leading a New York nonprofit
for the next decade and placing one-year bans on the charity's other board
members, which include the president's adult children."

Why haven't all principals
involved in this fiasco been criminally prosecuted?

"Daniel Goldman, a former
federal prosecutor and NBC News/MSNBC legal analyst, said that because
some of the same people alleged by the state attorney general of persistent
illegal activity in running the charity are also involved with the president's
business, there is reasonable justification in broadening the investigation.
"It is likely that the investigation into the Trump Foundation has sufficiently
overlapped with the Trump Organization that (state) investigators would
be justified in extending their investigation into the Trump Organization,"
he said."

Get this:

"The foundation itself
had no employees, instead relying on Trump Organization staffers to cut
its checks. Prior to taking office in 2017, Trump turned over day-to-day
control of his business to his adult sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump,
and Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization's chief financial officer.
Both sons were among the charity's board members, while Weisselberg was
listed as its treasurer. Weisselberg claimed not to know he was the foundation's
treasurer until investigators probing the charity told him. "There seems
to be entanglements in terms of people and probably in terms of money,
that's where businesses, frankly, do really start to get in trouble in
terms of violating tax laws and regular criminal laws," said Mimi Rocah,
a former federal prosecutor and NBC News/MSNBC legal analyst.

"In the background of
the more public-facing attorney general's investigation into the Trump
Foundation is an investigation that the state Department of Taxation and
Finance is conducting into the charity. While the AG has brought a civil
lawsuit, the state tax investigators have the ability to issue a criminal
referral."

What are they waiting
for? This fiasco has gone on quite some time. Why the snail's
pace?

"Such a criminal inquiry
could go far beyond the scope of that lawsuit and dip into the president's
and his family's tax information. Already, those investigators issued a
subpoena to Trump's former longtime lawyer Michael Cohen, who served as
a top Trump Organization executive, for documents linked to the foundation.
Cohen was sentenced this month to three years in federal prison after pleading
guilty to nine federal counts. Amy Spitalnick, communications director
for the state attorney general's office, declined to comment on whether
the office received a criminal referral as a result of the tax investigators
probe. Representatives for New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the state Department
of Taxation and Finance did not return requests for comment."

Pressure is certainly
increasing exponentially on the Trump nazi as the legal noose figuratively
tightens.

"The intermingling of
Trump Foundation and Trump Organization interests and expenditures will
implicate both — that's one part of why it's a tax fraud problem," Jed
Shugerman, a Fordham law professor who advised unsuccessful Democratic
New York attorney general candidate Zephyr Teachout this year, told NBC
News. "They were using the Trump Foundation for the business purposes of
the Trump Organization. That's the easiest case."

Think Trump isn't soiling
his pants?

"Adding to the fray is
[Attorney
Gen.-elect Letitia] James, who before taking
office next month, told NBC News in a recent interview that she plans to
use "every area of the law to investigate President Trump and his business
transactions and that of his family as well."

How could Trump and his
family ever think they could possibly get away with all the finagling?
Aggressive stupidity? Aryan arrogance? Off the charts.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-4-19

Let the games begin. The
Washington Post reports:

"Incoming House Majority
Leader Steny H. Hoyer said Friday that Democrats next week will not seat
a North Carolina Republican amid allegations of election fraud in the state’s
9th Congressional District. “Given the now well-documented election fraud
that took place in NC-09, Democrats would object to any attempt by [Mark]
Harris to be seated on January 3,” Hoyer said in a statement to The Washington
Post. “In this instance, the integrity of our democratic process outweighs
concerns about the seat being vacant at the start of the new Congress.”
The statement came after North Carolina dissolved its elections board Friday
without certifying the results of the election, leaving the fate of the
seat in doubt days ahead of the start of the new Congress."

Amazing, isn't it?
The bastards had since Election Day to resolve this fiasco. Why
haven't they?

"Dallas Woodhouse, executive
director of the North Carolina Republican Party, told CNN on Friday that
the elections board “failed in their duty” to certify Harris and suggested
that the state GOP may take legal action. “Mr. Harris got more legal votes,”
Woodhouse said. “He should be certified and he should go to Congress.”

Think so? LOL.

"Wayne Goodwin, chairman
of the North Carolina Democratic Party, countered by calling Republicans’
behavior “shocking” and accusing them of “trying to steal” a congressional
seat. “This is purely obstruction of an ongoing investigation ... This
investigation needs to continue,” Goodwin said."

You've had nearly two
months to resolve this. What does it take?

"The election board has
been central to the probe into election fraud that has roiled North Carolina
and drawn national attention for weeks."

Wake up.
Get your shit together. Do the right thing. Resolve the fiasco.
For once, act like Americans, -- not clueless idiots.

"The body’s decision not
to certify the race in November — depriving Harris of a victory over Democrat
Dan McCready even with a lead of 900 votes — signaled to political observers
in the state that there was something potentially serious going on."

Think so?
... Or, more of the same old bullshit.

"Reporters then disclosed
affidavits that had been submitted to the board by voters who alleged various
types of election-related impropriety. Some said that their absentee ballots
had been collected by strangers, an illegal practice known as “ballot harvesting.”

Where the hell was proper
oversight? Forget? This isn't rocket science.

"Reporting continued to
flesh out the beginnings of what appeared to be a potential fraud operation,
where absentee ballots were distributed and then collected, connected to
McCrae Dowless, a Republican operative who had been hired by Harris for
a get-out-the-vote operation. Investigators were looking into whether Dowless
or anyone working for him had discarded ballots."

"Woodhouse was part of
a group of Republicans that successfully pressured the election board’s
chairman, a Democrat, Andy Penry, to resign because of statements he’d
made in the past on Twitter. The party softened its tone about the board’s
investigation after it was disclosed that state law enforcement authorities
were pursuing potential criminal investigations into the case. State election
officials have also been working with the FBI and the office of Robert
Higdon, the U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of North Carolina."

Think the FBI and U.S.
Attorney under the Trump nazi will do the right thing?

"It remains unclear whether
there will be an interim board of elections to serve between now and Jan.
31, when a new board is expected to be seated. North Carolina Gov. Roy
Cooper (D) said Friday that he intends to appoint a temporary five-member
board, but Republicans have decried the idea of an interim panel as “unconstitutional”
and a “sham.”

"A hearing on the 9th
District race had been scheduled for Jan. 11, after which the panel could
decide whether to certify the election, call a new election or take some
other course of action. The fate of that hearing is now in doubt as well."

Incredible, isn't it?
Total dysfunction. ... As our formerly great country continues to
deteriorate, Founders continue to spin in their graves. Nazi America.
Delusionally believe this is sustainable?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-4-19

Portend of things to come.
The
Washington Post reports:

"Democrats have settled
on a strategy for attempting to reopen the government when they take control
of the House on Thursday, aimed at ending the partial shutdown quickly
— but denying President Trump the new money he wants for a border wall.
Democrats plan to pass a stopgap spending bill to fund the Homeland Security
Department through Feb. 8. The bill would extend the existing $1.3 billion
spending level on border fencing and other security measures, far short
of the $5 billion Trump has sought to build new walls along the U.S.-Mexico
border."

Time for Democrats to
find
themselves. Wake up and smell the coffee. Get out of the funk
and dysfunction they've been in since November 22,1963, the Kennedy assassination.
Funding spent on a border wall is a colossal waste of money. Fencing,
electronic surveillance, border personnel, etc., are a far more appropriate
and effective use of taxpayer dollars.

"But unless Trump retreats
on his demands, it’s unlikely that House passage of the legislation would
move Washington much closer to ending the partial shutdown that’s already
dragged on for more than a week and sent hundreds of thousands of federal
workers home on furlough."

Trump owns the
shutdown. Let the lunatic wallow in his abject stupidity. Face
the consequences.

"A spokesman for Senate
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said Monday the Senate would only
bring up legislation that has Trump’s blessing. And with talks at a standstill
for days, Trump himself remained bunkered in the White House Monday, tweeting
out demands for Democrats to accede to his wishes. “I’m in the Oval Office.
Democrats, come back from vacation now and give us the votes necessary
for Border Security, including the Wall,” Trump wrote."

Why should Democrats go
along with Trump's profound aggressive stupidity, egregious waste of taxpayer
money to please his sick sycophants?

"The White House had no
immediate comment Monday on the House Democrats’ plan."

What could Trump and/or
his henchmen say? The public is fully aware Trump's intransigence
is directly responsible for this ongoing fiasco.

"Under Democrats’ approach,
the House would also pass a package of six other spending bills to fund
an array of federal agencies that have been shuttered since Dec. 22, including
the Interior, Agriculture, Commerce and Justice Departments. Workers at
those agencies and others are facing the possibility of missing paychecks
depending on how long the shutdown lasts. Those six spending bills would
be passed through Sept. 30, the end of the fiscal year, at levels already
embraced on a bipartisan basis in the Senate — an approach aimed at pressuring
the Senate to go along."

Then again, the lunatic
in the Oval Office will likely continue stonewalling no matter what to
please his sick sycophants. Forget? 'Stupid is as stupid does.'

"The stopgap bill the
House plans to pass funding the Homeland Security Department through Feb.
8 takes a similar approach to a short-term spending bill the Senate passed
the week before Christmas — only to watch Trump renounce it the very next
day. McConnell, who will remain in control of the Senate in 2019 even as
the House flips to Democratic control, does not want to put his members
in that position again. “It’s simple: The Senate is not going to send something
to the president that he won’t sign,” Don Stewart, McConnell’s spokesman,
wrote in an email Monday."

Clearly, even Republican
national socialists, fascists, nazis are tiring of the lunacy of our nazi
fuhrer.
LOL.

"House Democrats settled
on the approach of funding the Homeland Security Department on a short-term
basis after liberals objected to a proposal to fund the agency through
the remainder of the 2018 fiscal year, even without increasing spending
at the border. A coalition of advocacy groups including the ACLU and others
sent Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) a letter
on Friday opposing extending funding for the Homeland Security Agency for
a full year, citing concerns that such an approach “clearly funds Trump’s
wall project and must be rejected.” A spokeswoman for the ACLU said Monday
that the group supports extending Homeland Security funding only to Feb.
8, an approach that would allow newly empowered Democrats more latitude
in determining the agency’s budget for the remainder of the 2018 fiscal
year.

"Despite Republicans holding
a bigger majority in the Senate in the next Congress, some Democratic votes
will still be needed to pass funding legislation there, and Democratic
senators have been resolute against wall funding even among their more
moderate members. That much was clear soon after the November midterms,
when Schumer started gauging where his members would be on $5 billion of
border wall funding, through one-on-one conversations in his office. Repeatedly,
Democratic senators told Schumer that they would support money for border
security, but not Trump’s specific request, according to a person familiar
with the conversations who spoke on condition of anonymity to describe
them."

Be interesting to see
if they stand tall, continue to resist this ongoing insanity. ...
Or, cave in to the national socialist, fascist, nazi element in the Republican
Party.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

1-4-19

Wells Fargo saga continues.
CBS News reports:

"Wells Fargo will pay
$575 million in a settlement with attorneys general from all 50 states
and the District of Columbia that are investigating its banking practices,
which have included phony accounts and manipulative sales practices."

"The agreement, announced
on Friday by the San Francisco-based bank and Iowa's attorney general,
settles a range of allegations that have roiled the bank and its customers
for years, including the 2016 revelation that employees had opened millions
of fake bank accounts to meet sales quotas. The settlement also covers
a host of other improper practices involving insurance, auto loans, mortgages
and financing."

It isn't justice.
These bastards have not been criminally prosecuted, convicted, and
doing prison time in a non-country club 'prison' reserved only for white-collar
thieves. ... Right, Amanda? Those looted by these thieves
have been nowhere near compensated for their losses. ... Right,
Amanda?

"This agreement underscores
our serious commitment to making things right in regard to past issues
as we work to build a better bank," said Wells Fargo CEO Tim Sloan, said
in a statement."

"Wells Fargo said it will
also create and maintain a website describing the issues along with contact
information for customers. The company said it will provide "periodic reports"
to states on remediation efforts."

'Symbolism over substance,'
-- to shamelessly quote another national socialist, fascist, nazi Republican
talk show host.

"Consumers who haven't
been made whole through existing remediation programs can also seek a review
for "possible relief," the Iowa attorney general's office said in its statement."

More unremarkable horse
shit coming from a prosecutor who failed to criminally prosecute
all those responsible.

"The agreement marks a
major turning point after cascading bad practices emerged from Wells Fargo,
starting around 2015. State and federal regulators lost patience with Wells
Fargo's pledge of making amends earlier this year, and had put restrictions
on its business. They also fined the bank more than $1.2 billion in penalties
for its bad behavior."

Why the f--k didn't theycriminallyprosecute
these thieves? Forget? Joe Blow down the block would have gotten
his sorry ass rightfully prosecuted for shoplifting. Yet,
those in top management who effectively do the same on a colossal level
criminally skate. Why? Why no equal justice? ...
Right,
Amanda?

"The Federal Reserve went
further earlier this year, forcing Wells Fargo to not grow any larger from
its current size until it said otherwise. The Fed also made Wells Fargo
replace some of its board of directors. In its statement today, the company
said it "has been engaged with its federal regulators to address these
issues and is remediating affected customers."

Nowhere near enough.
... Right, Amanda?

"The company said it has
$400 million set aside for the settlement, and expects to accrue the remaining
$175 in the current quarter."

Piss hole in the snow.
Pocket change for this out of control corporate behemoth. ... Right,
Amanda? No justice. Certainly, not in Nazi America.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-28-18

Highly reminiscent
of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors,
Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black
who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they
please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the fo1llowing.
It's appalling. Runs against the grain of everything our formerly
great country once stood for. No longer.

Yet, another needless
death of a kid courtesy of the jackbooted bastards in the Border Patrol.
NPR reports:

"An 8-year-old boy from
Guatemala has died in government custody, U.S. Customs and Border Protection
says. The boy died just before midnight on Monday, at a hospital in Alamogordo,
N.M. He is the second child this month to die in CBP custody after being
apprehended by the agency. The Guatemalan Foreign Service has identified
the boy as Felipe Gomez Alonso, NPR's Carrie Kahn reports. Felipe
was initially sent to Gerald Champion Regional Medical Center with his
father during the day on Monday, according to a statement from CBP. Hospital
staff diagnosed the boy with a common cold and a fever, and released him
in the mid-afternoon with prescriptions for antibiotics and ibuprofen.
He was transferred back to the hospital later that evening, after he began
vomiting, and he died hours later. In its initial statement, CBP had said
that the boy died after midnight on Tuesday, but the agency later adjusted
the time to late Monday. CBP says it does not know the cause of Felipe's
death."

Much more on this as further
information becomes available. One thing is for sure at this time.
Detainees are not properly housed and cared for by the Border Patrol.
Squalid, egregiously inhumane conditions.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-28-18

Trump orders military
out of Syria. NBC News reports:

"President Donald Trump's
abrupt decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria will be hailed as a
victory in Russia and Iran and a betrayal among Kurdish and Arab opposition
forces that have waged a seven-year war against the Damascus regime, experts
and former officials say. Although Russian and Iranian forces had already
turned the tide of the civil war in favor of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad,
the presence of U.S. troops has served as an obstacle to their ambitions
and a source of leverage for Washington in any potential political settlement
of the conflict. Just within the last week, senior U.S. officials had argued
that the American military mission was needed to ensure the lasting defeat
of ISIS militants and to serve as a bulwark against Iran. But with Trump's
move to pull out the U.S. troops, Russia and particularly Iran — which
sent thousands of proxies and its own elite forces into Syria — stand to
emerge as the dominant players in a country that shares a border with Israel."

What webs we weave.

"The withdrawal, if carried
out, will "provide Iran with solid control over the entire arc of the Levant
from Baghdad to Beirut," said Nicholas Heras, Middle East security fellow
at the Center for a New American Security think tank. Iran already wields
significant influence next door in Iraq, where it has heavily backed Shiite
militias and cultivated close ties to the Shiite-ruled government. Israel's
ambassador to the United Nations, Danny Danon, said the presence of Iranian
forces in Syria posed a threat to his country. "We have our concerns about
Syria, about the presence of Iranian troops in Syria. And we will do whatever
is necessary to protect our people regardless if you have American troops,
Russian troops, or any other nations," Danon told reporters."

Circumstances in the Middle
East indeed remain perilous. Not sustainable.

"The roughly 2,000 U.S.
troops in Syria, first deployed in 2015 on President Barack Obama's watch,
helped Kurdish-led forces deliver a resounding defeat against Islamic State
extremists that at one point held large swaths of territory. Now the Islamic
State is severely damaged and is holed up in the Euphrates River valley.
But senior U.S. officials and commanders have warned that the fight against
ISIS is not over and that without more help and training from American
troops, the extremists could regroup and return to the fray."

Where have we heard this
before? Where?

"The U.S. military's top
officer, Gen. Joseph Dunford, said this month that training for local forces
in Syria was still at an early stage, while stabilization efforts still
had "a long way to go." Kurdish forces in Syria, which proved a reliable
partner for the U.S. military's fight against ISIS, will almost certainly
feel betrayed by Trump's move, experts said, and will now face a potential
onslaught by Turkish forces that could jeopardize their hold on territory
in the northeast. "The U.S. withdrawal means handing over our necks to
Turkey's knives," said a Syrian Kurd, speaking to NBC News from the town
of Rmelan in northeastern Syria, near the Abu Hajar air base used for years
by U.S. forces. "My mother is crying on the phone. I feel that my heart
will stop," he said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of concern
for his safety. Arab opposition forces fighting the Syrian regime also
have relied heavily on U.S. special operations forces to help pinpoint
air raids and to guide them on the battlefield. Once the American commandos
leave, the Arab fighters could be vulnerable to Assad regime forces, Russian
warplanes, and Iran-backed fighters as well as ISIS militants, experts
and officials said."

There will be ramifications
of this decision the Trump nazi has clearly failed to fully consider.

"Even by the standards
of the impulsive Trump presidency, the decision came as a shock to American
allies and to his Cabinet, raising fresh questions abroad about America's
reliability. Trump opted to withdraw U.S. troops despite opposition from
nearly every member of his national security team. In an indication of
the chaotic, last-minute nature of the move, top lawmakers, administration
officials and foreign allies were blindsided by the announcement. Even
the U.S. special envoy for Syria, Joel Rayburn, was caught off guard, and
had to cancel his attendance at a private event Wednesday morning in Syria
just a few minutes in advance, said a source familiar with the matter.
The withdrawal puts members of the Trump team in the uncomfortable position
of breaking the promise of a continued U.S. presence in Syria that reassured
U.S. allies such as Israel, the Kurds and Gulf Arab states. The president's
recently named special representative for Syria engagement, Amb. James
Jeffrey, had said repeatedly and publicly as recently as this week that
the U.S. was not walking away from Syria and that the military would stay."

ABC News reports:

"President Donald Trump
took to Twitter Thursday with an extensive defense of his decision to withdraw
U.S. forces from Syria, framing it as a campaign promise kept amid growing
bipartisan backlash from lawmakers.

"Does the USA want to
be the Policeman of the Middle East, getting NOTHING but spending precious
lives and trillions of dollars protecting others who, in almost all cases,
do not appreciate what we are doing? Do we want to be there forever? Time
for others to finally fight.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
December 20, 2018"

Think this action may
in fact be no more than a desperate attempt to deflect attention from all
Trump's legal woes?

"....Russia, Iran, Syria
& many others are not happy about the U.S. leaving, despite what the
Fake News says, because now they will have to fight ISIS and others, who
they hate, without us. I am building by far the most powerful military
in the world. ISIS hits us they are doomed!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
December 20, 2018"

This lunatic remains a
pompous jackass.

"But that argument contradicts
warnings from a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers Wednesday evening following
the president's announcement. "The withdrawal of American presence from
Syria also bolsters two other adversaries to the United States, Iran and
Russia," the group wrote in a letter addressed to Trump. "As you are aware,
both Iran and Russia have used the Syrian conflict as a stage to magnify
their influence in the region." The letter was signed by Sens. Lindsey
Graham, R-S.C., Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, Angus King,
I-Maine, Tom Cotton, R-Ark., and Marco Rubio, R-Fla. The line of criticism
was echoed by "Fox and Friends" host Brian Kilmeade just minutes before
the president sent out his first defensive tweet. "He is doing exactly
if not worse than President Obama did. This is worse than blurring the
‘red line,’” Kilmeade said.

"In a news conference
Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin confirmed that he approved of
Trump's decision to withdraw U.S. forces. “If the U.S. removes its contingent,
that is correct,” Putin said. “Let us not forget that American troops,
your troops in Syria were not there legitimately."

Certainly, rattled the
cage of the military and others:

"The sudden nature of
the president's decision, which he confirmed in a Wednesday morning tweet,
reportedly caught many of his military advisors and the State Department
off guard. But the president contended Thursday that it should be "no surprise,"
and was in line with many of the promises he made before and during his
run for president.

"Getting out of Syria
was no surprise. I’ve been campaigning on it for years, and six months
ago, when I very publicly wanted to do it, I agreed to stay longer. Russia,
Iran, Syria & others are the local enemy of ISIS. We were doing there
work. Time to come home & rebuild. #MAGA

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
December 20, 2018"

Think Trump hasn't lost
his marbles? Get this:

"In a video posted to
his Twitter Wednesday evening and again Thursday morning, Trump again repeated
his claim that the U.S. has "won against ISIS" and suggested that American
troops killed in action in overseas conflicts are looking down with pride
at his Syria decision.

"We’re proud to have done
it," Trump said. "And I’ll tell you, they’re up there looking down on us
and there’s nobody happier or more proud of their families to put them
in a position where they’ve done such good for so many people."

"After historic victories
against ISIS, it’s time to bring our great young people home! pic.twitter.com/xoNjFzQFTp

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
December 19, 2018"

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-28-18

Secretary of Defense resigns
in protest. The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump’s decision
to abruptly withdraw troops from Syria is a clear rebuke to Defense Secretary
Jim Mattis, the last remaining member of a retinue of military men Trump
once fondly called “my generals.” Mattis had argued that the counterterrorism
mission in Syria is not over and that the small U.S. presence in Syria
should remain, said current and former U.S. officials who spoke on the
condition of anonymity to share internal policy discussions. The Pentagon
chief also had tried to explain to Trump that there would be more chaos
in the region and future problems for the United States if the troops leave,
they said. On Wednesday, it became clear Trump was brushing aside his defense
secretary’s advice. Once considered among the most influential advisers
to a president with no prior government or military experience, Mattis
has been repeatedly overruled by Trump in recent months and left out of
key discussions as the president pursues his own national security path.
The retired four-star Marine Corps general Trump likes to call by his detested
nickname, “Mad Dog,” is now at a low point in his influence with Trump
and potentially also a short-timer, current and former U.S. officials said."

How can a highly-gifted,
well-respected retired four-star Marine Corps general effectively interact
with an out of control, delusional lunatic? How?

"In the beginning of the
administration, Mattis maintained his influence with Trump even as he repeatedly
argued against some of the president’s iconoclastic impulses — trying to
explain with maps and charts how his decisions could hurt American interests,
officials who have watched those interactions said. Mattis often wove in
discussion of international trade and U.S. foreign aid, knowing that those
subjects are likely to hold the president’s interest, those people said.
The relationship between the two men has shown signs of strain in recent
months, and Trump continues to weigh whether he should keep Mattis in the
role and tells advisers in the Oval Office that he doesn’t agree with his
defense secretary on much, according to current and former administration
officials."

Come as any surprise?

"Mattis had lots of company
in arguing that U.S. troops need to remain in Syria, including from the
administration’s special envoy for the defeat of the Islamic State, Brett
McGurk, who told reporters last week that U.S. forces would remain in place
to secure their military gains. “It would be reckless if we were just to
say, ‘Well, the physical caliphate is defeated, so we can just leave now,’”
McGurk said Dec. 11. “I think anyone who’s looked at a conflict like this
would agree with that.” Mattis said in September that while the military
mission in Syria is focused on the defeat of the Islamic State, he cited
destabilizing Iranian and Russian influences in saying that U.S. forces
wouldn’t pull out abruptly. Dunford said earlier this month that the Pentagon
still had “a long way to go” to train local counterterrorism forces in
Syria. Both Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and national security adviser
John Bolton have recently said the goal in Syria is broader than simply
countering the Islamic State."

Trump is clearly a one-man
show.

"The decision, first reported
by the Wall Street Journal and Reuters, was apparently made Tuesday. It
was not clear whether Mattis or Pompeo knew of Trump’s decision to make
his announcement Wednesday morning. Throughout both Cabinet departments,
officials appeared caught unaware when the president’s tweet appeared.
Republican lawmakers were stunned and angry, with several demanding answers
from Vice President Pence at a Republican lunch on Wednesday about why
they were kept in the dark. “I don’t know what it is. I haven’t been briefed.
I am completely blindsided, and I think there will be a lot of bipartisan
concern,” Sen. Lindsey O. Graham (S.C.) said in an interview. “ISIS has
been dealt a severe blow but are not defeated. If there has been a decision
to withdraw our forces in Syria, the likelihood of their return goes up
dramatically,” while Iran, Russia and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad
benefit from the U.S. void, Graham said. Senators told Pence that “we did
not appreciate reading about this decision in the paper,” Graham added."

Trump seems to have cluelessly
ignored the fact he will need every Republican in the House and
Senate should he be impeached by the incoming Democratic House.

The Washington Post
reports:

"Defense Secretary Jim
Mattis resigned Thursday after clashing with President Trump over the withdrawal
of U.S. troops from Syria and Afghanistan, saying in a parting letter that
the president deserves someone atop the Pentagon “better aligned” with
his views. The retired Marine general’s surprise resignation came a day
after Trump shocked American allies and overruled his advisers, including
Mattis, upon announcing a withdrawal from Syria. In the process, Trump
declared victory over the Islamic State, even though the Pentagon and State
Department for months have been saying the fight against the group in Syria
isn’t over. Trump also ordered the Pentagon, against Mattis’s recommendation,
to come up with a plan to withdraw approximately half of the American troops
deployed to Afghanistan, a move that military officials have warned could
plunge the nation into chaos. The discord, coupled with an array of other
disagreements, caused Trump to lose a respected Cabinet official who won
widespread praise at home and abroad but who experienced increasing differences
with a commander in chief known for his skepticism of American allies and
military operations overseas. Long seen as a bulwark against Trump’s isolationist
impulses and more extreme proposals, Mattis served as a calm “reassurer-in-chief”
as the president sent out startling and provocative tweets. His departure
prompted a chorus of concern about the president’s temperament and decision-making
processes and injected new uncertainty into the administration’s approach
to global threats."

Trump is, and remains,
unfit for office.

"Mattis pointed to some
of his differences with Trump in a parting letter he submitted to the White
House on Thursday, which marked the first resignation of a Cabinet official
in the Trump administration over a matter of principle that exploded into
public view. The retired general emphasized that the United States derives
its strength from its relationships with allies and should treat them with
respect. He said the country must also be “clear-eyed” about threats, including
from groups such as the Islamic State. “We must do everything possible
to advance an international order that is most conducive to our security,
prosperity and values, and we are strengthened in this effort by the solidarity
of our alliances,” Mattis wrote. He did not offer any praise of Trump in
the letter."

Why would he?

"The defense secretary
resigned during what one senior administration official described as a
disagreement in the Oval Office on Thursday afternoon, in which Mattis
sought to persuade the president to stand down on the Syria withdrawal
but was rejected. Trump was later given a copy of the resignation letter
and noted to aides that it was not positive toward him. By then, the president
had shocked the Pentagon by filming a video on the White House lawn in
which he claimed the Islamic State had been defeated and said U.S. troops
who had died in combat would be proud to see their fellow service members
return home."

That's nuts. Trump's
clearly not all there.

"While the Syria announcement
looked poised to score political points domestically, Mattis and other
top advisers suspect that it will deliver a win to Russia, Iran and Syrian
leader Bashar ­al-Assad, while risking a resurgence of the Islamic
State. Mattis also has argued against drawing down troops from Afghanistan,
which Trump is leaning toward executing in the coming months, according
to administration officials. Senior administration officials said late
Thursday that Trump had ordered the military to come up with a plan to
remove approximately 7,000 of the 14,000 U.S. troops deployed to the country,
after a 17-year war, starting as early as January. The Pentagon released
the resignation letter moments after Trump announced on Twitter that Mattis
would be leaving, saying the already retired Marine would “retire.”

That's equally insane.
Mattis
resigned in protest. Did not retire.

"A staunch Russia hawk,
Mattis bristled at the president’s conciliatory gestures toward Russian
President Vladimir Putin and comments that undermined NATO, according to
people close to him. Russia and China “want to shape a world consistent
with their authoritarian model,” Mattis underscored in his resignation
letter. Moscow and Beijing are looking for “veto authority over other nations’
economic, diplomatic and security decisions,” he said, warning the president
that the United States must “use all the tools of American power to provide
for the common defense.” Lawmakers, ambassadors and policymakers for two
years have looked to Mattis as a source of stability in a chaotic administration.
His sudden resignation on Thursday sent jitters through a Washington establishment
already coping with a meltdown in the financial markets and a possible
government shutdown."

Matters are certainly
coming to a head.

"House Minority Leader
Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) said she was “shaken” by the resignation and described
it as “very serious for our country.” Republicans were also dismayed by
the decision. Sen. Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) said it was “a sad day for America
because Secretary Mattis was giving advice the president needs to hear.”
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) said the United States must
maintain its carefully built alliances and a clear understanding of its
friends and foes, recognizing that nations such as Russia are among the
latter. “I was sorry to learn that Secretary Mattis, who shares those clear
principles, will soon depart the administration,” McConnell said in a statement.
“But I am particularly distressed that he is resigning due to sharp differences
with the president on these and other key aspects of America’s global leadership.”

Mattis was certainly a
Marine's Marine.

"Known as the “Warrior
Monk” from his days in uniform, Mattis developed a reputation as a cerebral
thinker in the Marine Corps who liked to deliberate, read and study all
possibilities before making important decisions. That style clashed with
the most freewheeling presidential administration in the postwar era, most
notably this week, when Trump decided to withdraw from Syria without first
running an in-depth policy process that would consider the options and
ramifications. Mattis’s frustrations grew with the arrival of national
security adviser John Bolton, who curbed decision-making meetings and interagency
policy discussions that the defense secretary valued, according to people
familiar with the matter. The final rupture between the defense secretary
and the president came after weeks of tensions over Trump’s broadsides
against allies, his demands to withdraw from military entanglements in
the Middle East and personnel decisions.

"The departure of Mattis
is likely to be greeted with mixed feelings among some in uniform, many
of whom revered him as a straight-talking commander with deep knowledge
of military affairs. Still, service members are prohibited from speaking
negatively of Trump or other senior leaders.

"Retired Sgt. Maj. Carlton
Kent, Mattis’s top enlisted Marine when the two were deployed in Iraq,
said Thursday night that his phone has been “ringing off the hook” because
service members and veterans wanted to talk about the departure. “They
were concerned that he was the right man for the right job, and now he’s
transitioning,” Kent said. “They thought he was leading the department
in the right direction. And it was combat-hardened warriors saying that,
people who have witnessed him in combat.”

No question, a Marine's
Marine. -- Heard a story on NPR about a combat situation where a
non-com was making rounds at three in the morning to make sure that both
men in each fox hole were indeed awake and on post. The officer came
to one of the fox holes and found three men. One of them was
Gen. Mattis.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-28-18

Another high-level resignation
in protest. The Washington Post reports:

"Brett McGurk, the U.S.
envoy to the international coalition fighting the Islamic State, has resigned
in protest of President Trump’s decision to abruptly withdraw U.S. troops
from Syria. His resignation, confirmed by a State Department official familiar
with the matter, comes on the heels of Defense Secretary Jim Mattis’s announced
departure because of differences with the White House over foreign policy,
immediately following Trump’s announcement on Syria. Mattis said he would
stay on until February to ensure a smooth transition. Both Mattis and McGurk
objected to what they saw as a shortsighted decision and a breach of faith
with U.S. allies including the Syrian Kurds, who fought alongside U.S.
forces in Syria and now face a dangerous and uncertain future. For Trump,
the long-serving officials are the first high-profile departures in protest
of his policy decisions. McGurk had already planned to leave by mid-February
to take up a year-long post at Stanford University in March. Instead, he
submitted his resignation letter, effective Dec. 31, to Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo late Friday. In a tweet Saturday evening, Trump asked if McGurk
was a “Grandstander.” “The Fake News is making such a big deal about this
nothing event,” Trump wrote."

Think Trump's not soiling
his pants as the noose figuratively tightens? Must also be noted
Trump in a pique of anger decided Mattis would be leaving on the first
of the year, not in February.

"The resignations send
a worrying signal to foreign partners whose support is crucial to containing
the Islamic State, former officials said. Trump this past week ordered
the withdrawal of all 2,000 or so U.S. troops from Syria and declared the
Islamic State defeated. The move blindsided senior officials and ran counter
to the advice of his own top aides, including Mattis. “We have defeated
ISIS in Syria, my only reason for being there during the Trump Presidency,”
Trump tweeted on Wednesday, a day before Mattis announced his resignation.
But earlier this month, McGurk said that the Islamic State was far from
vanquished despite its loss of territory. “Nobody working on these issues
day-to-day is complacent. Nobody is declaring a mission accomplished,”
McGurk said at a State Department briefing. “Defeating a physical caliphate
is one phase of a much longer-term campaign.”

These two resignations
were certainly quite some time in the making:

"McGurk, appointed to
the job in 2015 by President Barack Obama and retained by Trump, had long
maintained that the U.S. mission in Syria should focus on countering the
Islamic State rather than wider regional ambitions such as the overthrow
of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said diplomats who worked with him
over the years. Like many administration officials dealing with counter-Islamic
State policy, McGurk was taken aback when Trump national security adviser
John Bolton announced in September that U.S. forces would stay there for
the indefinite future as part of a plan to counter Iran — a new goal for
the deployment. “We’re not going to leave as long as Iranian troops are
outside Iranian borders and that includes Iranian proxies and militias,”
Bolton said. At the time, the Syria policy had been loosely based on a
likely drawdown by the end of 2019, and McGurk and others were doubtful
that Trump, who had repeatedly insisted he wanted to leave Syria, was fully
cognizant of or had signed off on the new decision."

Imagine that. Fascinating,
isn't it?

"McGurk, meanwhile, was
seeking to stabilize the eastern third of Syria, which had been liberated
from the militants and was under U.S. control. Trump had announced that
the United States would no longer pay to help restore vital services such
as electricity and water to towns and cities destroyed by combat, including
heavy U.S. air bombardment, and McGurk successfully solicited coalition
contributions to cover the financial shortfall. Aside from Mattis’s resignation,
the most significant factor in McGurk’s decision was an inability to reconcile
the president’s decision with his experience as the U.S. diplomat who “spent
time with the guys on the ground who have been fighting and dying,” including
Kurdish fighters in Syria, said an official familiar with his views. “To
just suddenly, in one split second” have to tell them the United States
was leaving “is hard to face.” Even so, the official said, McGurk had always
told the fighters that “you cannot count on us for a long-term stay,” and
advised them to start thinking about Syria’s future after the Islamic State’s
defeat. Numerous U.S. officials have said that final territorial defeat
remains months away and that thousands of militant “sleeper cells” throughout
Syria have been conducting guerrilla attacks in liberated areas and are
awaiting a U.S. departure to reorganize.

"McGurk’s tenacity and
personal touch in building relationships served the counter-ISIS effort
well, colleagues said. He met face-to-face with Kurdish and Arab leaders
of
the SDF and was a constant presence in Baghdad and Irbil, the capital of
the autonomous Kurdish region in northern Iraq, becoming the most recognizable
American official in the country at a time when an Islamic State blitz
threatened both capitals. “At the end of the day he was focused on defeating
ISIS,” said one former official, speaking on the condition of anonymity
because of the matter’s sensitivity. “All of his engagements make this
[Syria decision] untenable because there’s a betrayal to foreign partners.”

Remains an incredibly
complicated situation that Trump clearly has no intellectual grasp of.
Remains unwilling to carefully consider concerns of all principals and
allies involved in this ongoing fiasco.

"McGurk valued partnerships,
not only with the Kurds but with the British and the French, opposing a
rapid withdrawal that left the U.S. commitment to those partners in limbo,
said one diplomat, who was not authorized to speak about U.S. personnel.
His departure is likely to complicate the counter-ISIS effort, former officials
said. “Anybody coming into this role will have a very difficult time being
credible with our foreign partners,” said Nicholas Rasmussen, former director
of the National Counterterrorism Center under Obama and Trump. “Obviously
our diplomats are only as credible as the willingness of their country
to live up to their commitments, and that has been undermined significantly
in this case.”

Indeed, we have military
personnel fighting all over the globe. Ostensibly, to combat terrorism.
In reality? To line pockets of greedy corporate war profiteers who in turn
line pockets of their bought and paid for government lackeys. Needs
to change across the board. -- Carefully, however. Very
carefully. With due process, not by nazi dictator fiat.

The normal method of governing
in a democratic republic is indeed through inter agency consultation, consultation
with allies, robust debate within all branches of government itself, vigorous
debate within the president's Cabinet, etc.. No longer possible.
We have a lunatic dictator governing by exceptionally f--ked up 'gut instinct.'
Concertedly plunging our formerly great country into total disarray.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-28-18

What we're now clearly
seeing is an apparent melt down of the Trump nazi. The Washington
Post reports:

"President Trump began
Thursday under siege, listening to howls of indignation from conservatives
over his border wall and thrusting the government toward a shutdown. He
ended it by announcing the exit of the man U.S. allies see as the last
guardrail against the president’s erratic behavior: Defense Secretary Jim
Mattis, whose resignation letter was a scathing rebuke of Trump’s worldview.
At perhaps the most fragile moment of his presidency — and vulnerable to
convulsions on the political right — Trump single-handedly propelled the
U.S. government into crisis and sent markets tumbling with his gambits
this week to salvage signature campaign promises. The president’s decisions
and conduct have led to a fracturing of Trump’s coalition. Hawks condemned
his sudden decision to withdraw U.S. troops from Syria. Conservatives called
him a “gutless president” and questioned whether he would ever build a
wall. Political friends began privately questioning whether Trump needed
to be reined in."

Clearly, this president
is growing increasingly desperate:

"After campaigning on
shrinking America’s footprint in overseas wars, Trump abruptly declared
Wednesday that he was withdrawing U.S. troops from Syria, a move Mattis
and other advisers counseled against. And officials said Thursday that
Trump is preparing to send thousands of troops home from Afghanistan, as
well. The president also issued an ultimatum to Congress to fund construction
of his promised U.S.-Mexico border wall, a move poised to result in a government
shutdown just before Christmas. Trump and his aides had signaled tacit
support for a short-term spending compromise that would avert the shutdown,
but the president abruptly changed course after absorbing a deluge of criticism
from some of his most high-profile loyalists. Leon Panetta, who served
as defense secretary, CIA director and White House chief of staff for Democratic
presidents, said, “We’re in a constant state of chaos right now in this
country.” He added, “While it may satisfy [Trump’s] need for attention,
it’s raising hell with the country.”

Indeed. Trump remains
unfit. Delusional. Unstable.

"Panetta said the resignation
of Mattis is a singular moment and that his letter, which underscores how
Mattis sees Trump’s approach as misguided, “puts the security of the nation
right now at some degree of risk.” Trump has been isolated in bunker mode
in recent weeks as political and personal crises mount, according to interviews
with 27 current and former White House officials, Republican lawmakers,
and outside advisers to the president, some of whom spoke on the condition
of anonymity to offer candid assessments. “There’s going to be an intervention,”
one former senior administration official said speculatively. “Jim Mattis
just sent a shot across the bow. He’s the most credible member of the administration
by five grades of magnitude. He’s the steady, safe set of hands. And this
letter is brutal. He quit because of the madness.”

Indeed. About time.
Time for others to step up, do the same.

"In his resignation letter,
Mattis wrote, “My views on treating allies with respect and also being
clear-eyed about both malign actors and strategic competitors are strongly
held and informed by over four decades of immersion in these issues ...
Because you have the right to have a Secretary of Defense whose views are
better aligned with yours on these and other subjects, I believe it is
right for me to step down from my position.” Although Trump’s relationship
with Mattis has been rocky for months, the president spent the first part
of Thursday focused on another fraying relationship: with his conservative
base. On Thursday, as criticism over his capitulation on the wall grew
louder by the hour, Trump complained to friends and aides that he felt
politically shackled. He had no plan but was spoiling for a fight. By midday,
the president picked one."

This man is not rational:

“I’ve made my position
very clear: Any measure that funds the government must include border security.
Has to,” Trump said Thursday. He added that he had “no choice” but to act.
Trump’s advisers acknowledged that the funding may not be secured in the
end but boasted that the spectacle would be remembered favorably by his
base voters as proof of his mettle. A wall funding proposal was approved
by the House late Thursday but faced uncertain prospects in the Senate."

Republicans appear to
be equally frustrated:

"Senate Majority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), habitually careful in his approach to Trump, avoided
strong-arming the president in their recent exchanges, knowing that urging
him to stand down on the wall funding probably would only embolden him,
according to two people familiar with the discussions. At every turn, McConnell
confided to Trump that congressional efforts this month — from the passage
of the farm bill to bipartisan criminal justice reform — were a string
of victories for him, the people said. Thanks to McConnell’s soothing,
there was cautious optimism that the president would eventually sign a
funding bill. “McConnell has a lot to do with it, of course. They talk
a lot,” Rep. Harold D. Rogers (R-Ky.) said. “It’s smart to save the fight
for another day.” House Speaker Paul D. Ryan (R-Wis.) — busy this week
bidding farewell to Congress after two decades in office — followed McConnell’s
playbook, pointing out how Trump would be able to battle for wall funding
in the new year, a person close to Ryan said. Both Ryan and House Majority
Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) told Trump last week that they could not
pass a spending bill with $5 billion for wall construction, and McConnell
was told by the White House that Trump would sign a short-term bill without
it, according to two people familiar with the conversations."

Rabid Republican nazis
on the Far Right were certainly spoiling for a fight:

"But on Fox News Channel
and across conservative media, there was a brewing rebellion. Prominent
voices urged Trump to hold firm on his wall money and warned that caving
would jeopardize his reelection. Rush Limbaugh dismissed the compromise
bill on his radio program as “Trump gets nothing and the Democrats get
everything.” Another firebrand, Ann Coulter, published a column titled
“Gutless President in Wall-less Country.” Trump even found resistance on
the couch of his favorite show, “Fox & Friends,” where reliable Trump-boosting
host Brian Kilmeade chided him on the air Thursday. The president was paying
attention. He promptly unfollowed Coulter on Twitter. And he pecked out
a series of defensive tweets blaming congressional leaders for not funding
the wall, while also assuming a defensive posture. He suggested that a
massive wall may not be necessary in its entirety because the border already
is “tight” thanks to the work of Border Patrol agents and troops. “One
of the things he’s most vulnerable to is mockery and mockery by his own
supporters,” said Mark Krikorian, a leading anti-immigration activist."

Goes on and on.
None of this is good for the country. Unsustainable. Revolution
doomsday clock strikes ever closer to midnight.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-28-18

The president has clearly
lost his mind. The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump warned
Friday that a partial government shutdown would last “for a very long time”
if Congress does not meet his demand Friday for billions in funding for
his long-promised border wall in a stopgap spending measure. In a spate
of morning tweets, Trump sought to pin blame on Democrats for a potential
shutdown even though he said last week that he would proudly own one if
lawmakers did not provide at least $5 billion toward his marquee campaign
promise. And he suggested that Senate rules should be changed if necessary
so that Republicans could pass the bill without any Democratic support
— a move key Republicans oppose."

For damned good reason.
Know full well Democrats will return the favor.

"After Trump threatened
Thursday to veto a Senate measure that did not contain the border funding
he sought, the House hurried to appease the president, pulling together
a bill that would keep the government funded through Feb. 8 while also
allocating $5.7 billion for the border wall. The House bill also included
nearly $8 billion for disaster relief for hurricanes and wildfires. Democrats,
however, have enough votes in the Senate to keep that bill from advancing
and have showed no signs of relenting.

“You own the shutdown—your
own words, @realDonaldTrump,” Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer
(D-N.Y.) said in a tweet Friday morning. “The Senate UNANIMOUSLY passed
a bipartisan solution to avoid a shutdown. Then you threw another temper
tantrum and convinced the House to ignore that compromise. #TrumpShutdown”

"In a contentious Oval
Office meeting last week with Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi
(D-Calif.), Trump said he would be “proud to shut down the government for
border security.”

“So I will take the mantle,”
he said. “I will be the one to shut it down. I won’t blame you for it.”

Now the lunatic is claiming
the direct opposite:

“The Democrats now own
the shutdown!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
December 21, 2018

"Senator Mitch McConnell
should fight for the Wall and Border Security as hard as he fought for
anything. He will need Democrat votes, but as shown in the House, good
things happen. If enough Dems don’t vote, it will be a Democrat Shutdown!
House Republicans were great yesterday!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
December 21, 2018"

Goes on and on.
This man remains irrational.

NPR reports:

"A partial shutdown of
the federal government began just after midnight Saturday, after Congress
and President Trump were unable to resolve an impasse over his demand for
funding for his border wall. The stalemate comes just ahead of the Christmas
holiday period next week, though if a way forward is found over the weekend
the impact could be minimal since Monday and Tuesday are already federal
holidays. Both the House and Senate are adjourned until noon on Saturday;
once they return to Capitol Hill, lawmakers hope to try to find a way forward,
with members set to be given a 24-hour notice of any planned vote. Still,
it's the third time this year that the federal government has been shuttered,
even if only briefly. A government shutdown is typically an unlikely occurrence
and is virtually unheard of under unified party control, underscoring the
dysfunction that's become normal in Washington even with a GOP-controlled
Congress and White House through year's end.

"The political finger-pointing
over who was to blame started well ahead of final negotiations. Trump tweeted
Friday morning that "The Democrats now own the shutdown!" However, in an
Oval Office meeting last week with House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi,
the likely next speaker of the House, and Senate Minority Leader Chuck
Schumer, Trump said he would be "proud" to shut down the government over
the wall. "I'll be the one to shut it down. I will take the mantle. And
I will shut it down for border security," Trump said then."

Trump clearly owns
this.

"Trump had been slated
to depart Friday for a 16-day holiday vacation at his Mar-a-Lago resort
in Florida, but postponed the trip once it was clear the government would
shut down. Friday night, Trump posted a video to Twitter seemingly taking
yet another position about responsibility for the shutdown vis-a-vis Democrats.
"We're going to have a shutdown. There's nothing we can do about that because
we need the Democrats to give us their votes. Call it a Democrat shutdown,
call it whatever you want, but we need their help to get this approved,"
the president said. "So Democrats, we have a wonderful list of things we
need to keep our country safe. Let's get out, let's work together, let's
be bipartisan and let's get it done. The shutdown will hopefully not last
long." Democrats, however, framed the situation far differently. On Thursday,
Schumer said Trump's "temper tantrum will shut down the government, but
it will not get him his wall." And Thursday night, Pelosi said on Twitter
that "Democrats are for real border security solutions. Not for wasting
billions of taxpayer dollars on an immoral, ineffective & expensive
wall."

About time Democrats stood
up to the Trump nazi and his henchmen.

NPR reports:

"I can't tell you when
the government's going to be open," the president said in a Christmas Day
video conference with representatives of all five military branches stationed
in Alaska, Bahrain, Guam and Qatar. "I can tell you it's not going to be
open until we have a wall or fence, whatever they'd like to call it," Trump
said, suggesting that a change in semantics might allow for a breakthrough.
"I'll call it whatever they want, but it's all the same thing."

Clearly, Trump does not
live on the same planet as the rest of us.

"It's a disgrace what's
happening in our country," Trump said in the Oval Office. "But other than
that, I wish everybody a very Merry Christmas."

Certainly, is a disgrace,
Mr. 'President." That disgrace is you, sir.

Trump has lost his mind:

"I am all alone (poor
me) in the White House waiting for the Democrats to come back and make
a deal on desperately needed Border Security. At some point the Democrats
not wanting to make a deal will cost our Country more money than the Border
Wall we are all talking about. Crazy!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump)
December 24, 2018"

Continuing lunacy:

"When he was campaigning
for president in 2016, Trump told supporters that the wall would be built
and that Mexico would pay for it. Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer
of New York suggested that the president's insistence on a wall is little
more than an attempt to mollify his political base. "Instead of bringing
certainty into people's lives, he's continuing the Trump Shutdown just
to please right-wing radio and TV hosts," Schumer said in a joint statement
issued on Christmas Day along with House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi
of California. "The president wanted the shutdown, but he seems not to
know how to get himself out of it," the Democratic leaders added."

Congress remains dysfunctional:

"Sentiment on Capitol
Hill is that the closure could continue through the middle of January as
tentative efforts at a compromise have been unsuccessful. As Politico reports,
"While Trump has told allies he'd be willing to come down from his demand
for $5 billion in border wall money, Democrats have stood firm on $1.3
billion for fencing, consistent with current spending levels. On Saturday,
[Vice President Mike] Pence offered Schumer a bill to reopen the government
that would provide $2.1 billion for fencing and an additional $400 million
for Trump's other immigration priorities; Democrats countered with $1.3
billion in fencing and more aid for Puerto Rico as part of a disaster package,
according to a person familiar with the talks, which essentially recirculated
past offers."

... As the revolution
doomsday clock strikes ever closer to midnight.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-28-18

Trump's hypocrisy knows
no bounds. The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump and first
lady Melania Trump attended Christmas Eve services at one of the city’s
most prominent — and liberal — houses of worship, Washington National Cathedral,
and heard a sermon about the Christmas narrative — in particular, the use
of power, human cruelty and the struggle of refugees who are turned away
in “their greatest hour of need.” Bishop Mariann Edgar Budde, Washington’s
Episcopal leader, said she learned of the decision by the Trumps and Vice
President Pence and his wife to attend services shortly before they began
and had written her sermon long before. She gave the same sermon to the
6 p.m. Service of Christmas Lessons and Carols, which the Pences attended,
and the 10 p.m. Holy Eucharist, which the Trumps attended. Budde said Tuesday
that she and Cathedral Dean Randy Hollerith greeted the president and the
vice president before the services, as is customary. “President Trump went
out of his way to participate,” she said. “He sang, prayed, greeted people.
As we walked by [in the procession,] he was very present. I think that
was lovely to see. In the midst of all we are struggling with right now,
policy and practices aside, it’s Christmas, and the first family is always
welcome.”

Sermon certainly struck
home:

"Much of the sermon, “For
Love’s Sake,” sought to explore what the enormous human-led efforts to
celebrate Christmas are really about. During Christmas, Budde said, people
seek to insert themselves into a “wondrous story” — the Christmas narrative.
In doing that, she said, they glimpse the presence of God, through the
extra kindnesses, forgiveness, generosity, grace and peace that people
extend during Christmastime. But, she said, the narrative of Jesus’ birth
isn’t about only that. "You only have to read the first sentence of the
story to know that there are deep social implications to it, should we
place ourselves in this story. It begins with an emperor who could move
people about at will. And so two people forced to obey the emperor’s edict
set out on a long journey on the last month of the young woman’s pregnancy.
And they were denied a place of comfort in her greatest hour of need. And
it wouldn’t be long before they would be forced to flee again, this time
to find refuge from violence in another country. It’s right there. It’s
in the text. It’s in the story. And those who passed it on to us wanted
us to know Jesus is no stranger to struggle or sorrow or the whims of human
cruelty. They wanted us to know, as they did, both the gift and the responsibility
of tending to light shining in darkness. We are the ones now to keep the
light shining; we are the ones to keep the hope alive. The message of love
credible — and that is no small task."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-28-18

More of the same old horse
shit. ABC News reports:

"Acting Attorney General
Matthew Whitaker is not recusing himself from overseeing the Mueller investigation,
even though a Justice Department ethics review determined that recusal
would be appropriate, but not required, in his case."

Special treatment.
To protect the Trump nazi.

"Critics have complained
that before taking the job as chief of staff to Attorney General Jeff Sessions,
Whitaker frequently appeared on television making critical comments about
the special counsel investigation, raising questions about his impartiality
in overseeing the probe."

You think?

"Whitaker’s reasoning
was described in a letter to Senate leadership sent late Thursday. The
letter, signed by Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd, explained that
“if a recommendation [about recusal] were sought,” Justice Department ethics
officials “would advise that the Acting Attorney General should recuse
himself from supervision of the Special Counsel investigation," because
a reasonable person with knowledge of relevant facts would "likely question
the impartiality of the Acting Attorney General."

Here comes the self-serving
unadulterated bullshit:

"But the key phrase is:
“if a recommendation were sought.” In considering whether he should seek
an ethics review, Whitaker was briefed on what the results of such a review
would be. Armed with the knowledge that if a review were ordered it would
recommend recusal, he simply chose not to ask for one. The letter to drew
a sharp response from Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer who said in
a statement, “It’s crystal clear that Department of Justice ethics officials
believe Mr. Whitaker should recuse himself from supervision of the special
counsel’s investigation. And despite this clear guidance, Mr. Whitaker
has refused to do so."

Clearly, for the sake
of his lunatic nazi fuhrer.

"Officials also looked
at whether there were conflicts of interest under applicable rules of conduct,
due to personal or political relationships with people substantially involved
in "conduct that is the subject of the investigation or prosecution" or
would be "directly affected by the outcome." The ethics officials did not
find any requirement to recuse under that analysis."

Jesus Christ. Precisely,
one of the reasons why there is absolutely no faith or trust in law enforcement
and the judiciary. ... Right, Sheriff? Self-serving
horse shit.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-28-18

Trump loses another one
in court. The Washington Post reports:

"A federal judge on Wednesday
[12-19-18] blocked several Trump administration policies that made it more
difficult for victims of gang and domestic violence to seek asylum in the
United States. In a 107-page opinion, U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan
wrote that the policies were “arbitrary and capricious and contrary to
law” and ordered the government to cease their implementation. The ruling
came in a lawsuit brought by the ACLU and Center for Gender & Refugee
Studies, representing 12 adults and children who had sought asylum in the
United States because they said they were sexually abused, beat and kidnapped
in their home countries. Each was denied asylum — even though asylum officers
felt their accounts were sincere, according to the ruling — based on the
new policies restricting who qualifies. Some already had been removed,
though Sullivan decreed they should be brought back to the United States
and allowed to make their case again. In their lawsuit — which focused
on migrants who had been placed in fast-track deportation proceedings —
the advocacy organizations argued the new policies prevented migrants from
getting a fair hearing on whether they could stay in the United States,
and that thousands of people could potentially be affected. The groups
hailed Sullivan’s ruling Wednesday. “This ruling is a defeat for the Trump
administration’s all-out assault on the rights of asylum seekers. The government’s
attempt to obliterate asylum protections is unlawful and inconsistent with
our country’s long-standing commitment to provide protection to immigrants
fleeing for their lives,” said Jennifer Chang Newell, managing attorney
of the ACLU’s Immigrants’ Rights Project, who argued the case.

"Sullivan took aim at
much of the new guidance. He wrote there was “no legal basis for an effective
categorical ban on domestic violence and gang-related claims,” and he specifically
invalidated the general rule that asylum officers should dismiss such claims
in assessing applicants’ credible fear claims. Sullivan also blocked the
requirement that applicants alleging harm by someone other than a government
must “show the government condoned the private actions or at least demonstrated
a complete helplessness to protect the victim.” Sullivan, who made a splash
Tuesday at the sentencing of President Trump’s former national security
adviser Michael Flynn, had earlier in the case halted a deportation in
progress and threatened to hold Sessions in contempt after learning the
administration had begun removing a woman and her daughter while a court
hearing appealing their deportations was ongoing. He ordered the government
Wednesday to provide new written guidance on making credible fear determinations
to comply with his ruling."

Sullivan has certainly
distinguished himself repeatedly standing up to the Trump nazi and his
henchmen.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-28-18

Trump nazi can't, won't
be deterred by court action. NPR reports:

"Migrants who cross the
U.S. southern border and seek asylum will be required to wait in Mexico
while their claims are being processed, Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen
Nielsen said Thursday."

Think this won't be challenged
in court?

"Currently, most people
requesting asylum are allowed to stay in the U.S. — sometimes in detention
— while their claim is pending in immigration court. The new policy will
send such migrants to Mexico for the duration of that process."

Jesus Christ. Our
lunatic fuhrer has become a law unto himself. LOL.

"That's true regardless
of the migrants' country of origin: Many people crossing the U.S.-Mexico
border are not Mexican, but are fleeing violence in Central America. "
'Catch and release' will be replaced with 'catch and return,' " Nielsen
said, using the Trump administration's preferred term for current U.S.
asylum claim practices."

Goddamned nazi.
Determined abrogation of Trump's oath of office to protect and defend the
United States Constitution.

"The immigrants will still
be interviewed by a U.S. asylum officer, but they will no longer be released
into the interior with a notice to appear in immigration court. The Department
of Homeland Security has long complained that many applicants simply disappear
and never show up for their hearing."

That's unadulterated horse
shit. Simply untrue. As repeatedly stated in this publication
and elsewhere. The president is a shameless pathological liar.

"The right to seek asylum
is protected by U.S. and international law."

That's right. As
also repeatedly stated in this publication and elsewhere. The president
is determinedly, repeatedly, concertedly breaking the law.

"Houston immigration attorney
Ruby Powers just returned from Tijuana, Mexico, where thousands of immigrants
are waiting in makeshift camps to apply for asylum at the San Ysidro Port
of Entry. After learning of the sweeping DHS announcement, she said, "This
is going to cause utter chaos."

"Powers said migrant shelters
in Mexican border cities are already full and can hardly handle asylum
applicants who are told to return to Mexico and wait. She said immigration
lawyers like herself will find it logistically difficult to assist clients
with their immigration cases since they will be in Mexico, some without
phones or Internet. "I think the ultimate plan is to prevent people
from wanting to apply for asylum so they won't come to the United States,"
Powers said."

No question. Certainly,
appears to be the game plan of the lunatic nazi in the Oval Office.

"The Mexican government,
while affirming its own sovereign rights to determine who enters the country,
said it would allow the practice. Mexico also said it would extend some
rights and protections to the non-Mexican asylum-seekers on Mexican soil
who await immigration hearings in the U.S. The migrants will receive
humanitarian visas, have the opportunity to apply for work permits and
have access to legal services, Mexico said. This is a major policy reversal
for the Mexican government, which has traditionally refused to accept third-country
migrants from the U.S."

This is not sustainable
in Mexico. Will likely quickly lead to weakening of the new Mexican
president. Further destabilize an already unstable country.

"The new shift will likely
be seen as a capitulation by Mexico's new president, Andrés Manuel
López Obrador, as he tries to maintain cordial relations with President
Trump. The Trump administration said earlier this week that it will contribute
nearly $6 billion toward Mexico's recently announced $30 billion development
plan for the southern part of the country and three Central Americans countries,
in hopes of creating jobs and opportunities so people from the region won't
have to migrate."

Too little, too late.

"In late November, Lee
Gelernt, an attorney with the American Civil Liberties Union, said there
were questions about the legality of such a proposal. "One thing we know
right off the bat is that it cannot be legal unless they can assure all
the asylum seekers who will be stranded in Mexico ... will be safe — not
only from persecution by state actors in Mexico, but by criminal gangs,"
Gelernt told NPR. "And from what we know about what's going on, we see
no likelihood that that is going to be true."

Sue the living shit out
of Trump and his henchmen.

"On Thursday, Jacinta
Ma, director of policy and advocacy at the National Immigration Forum,
agreed that the proposal raises legal questions. "I would definitely expect
a legal challenge, especially seeing all the legal challenges filed against
the Trump administration on immigration matters," she told NPR."

What are you waiting for?
Keep up and increase legal pressure on our lunatic fuhrer.

"The news comes during
a time of close national attention to issues of immigration and asylum,
as Trump continues to denounce migration as a national security threat,
and critics of the administration's actions accuse the White House of inhumane
policies."

The president has repeatedly
disgraced himself and our formerly great country. Trump presents
an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights
and liberties.

"The recent arrival of
a caravan of Central American migrants at the U.S. southern border brought
fresh attention to asylum-seekers, particularly after a clash between protesters
and Border Patrol agents. The Trump administration has been setting limits
on the number of people allowed to claim asylum at those ports of entry
per day. The result has been a massive backlog of migrants waiting to claim
asylum — in addition to a backlog of migrants who have claimed asylum and
are awaiting processing. The death of a 7-year-old migrant girl in Border
Patrol custody this month has brought fresh outrage to the debate, as did
the killing of two Honduran teens last weekend. The teenagers were killed
in downtown Tijuana, not far from a migrant shelter for unaccompanied minors,
where they were staying while they waited to start an asylum claim with
the U.S. Meanwhile, Trump continues to seek funding for his border wall,
which he had originally claimed would be paid for by Mexico. He recently
said that Mexico is essentially paying for the wall through the new deal
to replace NAFTA, a claim that is not true."

Trump is a congenital
liar. We no longer live in a democratic republic. Certainly,
not since 9/11. With traitorous, treasonous imposition by both major
political parties of the USA 'Patriot' Act, 'Real' ID Act, Homeland 'Security'
Act, etc., we now live in a de facto fascist police-state, quickly transitioning
to the Trump nazi's FourthReich. A raucous boot clicking,
goose stepping, treasonous, treacherous, traitorous Sieg Heil!,
Mr.'President?'

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-28-18

Think the Texas 'jurist'
who ruled Obamacare unconstitutional is not a Republican partisan?
Did not determinedly legislate his perverse ideological views from the
bench? NPR reports:

"U.S. District Judge Reed
O'Connor has a history of siding with Republicans on ideologically motivated
lawsuits. His ruling last week, in which he sided with the GOP on a challenge
to the Affordable Care Act, was not a one-off. In fact, critics say, his
history is ultimately why that case was before him in the first place."

Precisely.

"By all accounts, O'Connor's
ruling is sweeping. It says the entire health care law became invalid when
Congress zeroed out, in 2017, the tax penalty for Americans who don't have
health insurance — a penalty that had been tied to what's known as the
law's individual mandate that nearly everyone have insurance. "I think
he went too far in rejecting the entire law," says Josh Blackman, a conservative
legal scholar and professor at the South Texas College of Law in Houston.
"I think he could have stopped short and simply severed the Obamacare mandate."
While O'Connor's decision may seem a bit extreme to some legal scholars,
it wasn't surprising. Justin Nelson, a law professor at the University
of Texas, Austin, says if you know anything about O'Connor's past rulings,
this was predictable. "In case after case," Nelson says, "what he has shown
is that he has tended to side with the Republican attorneys general who
are bringing ideological suits."

Needs to be impeached,
convicted, and removed from the bench. Is not impartial.

"Nelson recently ran an
unsuccessful campaign to oust Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who led
this multistate legal challenge to the health care law. Nelson says Paxton
and the other Republican attorneys general have filed lawsuits in the U.S
District Court for the Northern District of Texas because they know there's
a good chance they'll get O'Connor as the judge. "Judge O'Connor has been
the go-to judge for Ken Paxton and Republican attorneys general who want
to file ideological suits in any court across the country," Nelson says.
"Reed O'Connor is their best shot to get a ruling that they like."

Nazi justice. Achingly,
kangaroo.

"O'Connor, who did not
respond to NPR's requests for comment, was a Republican staffer on Capitol
Hill before he was nominated to the federal bench by George W. Bush in
2007. So far, he has had to weigh in on at least a couple of contentious
issues. For example, O'Connor is known for striking down an Obama-era rule
that protected transgender students. In that case he also sided with Paxton,
who filed that legal challenge. "They've done this over and over again
on the hope that Judge O'Connor would rule on behalf of an ideological
agenda," Nelson says. "And I don't think that is proper. I don't think
that is right."

Raw nazism. Kangaroo
justice. One of the reasons there is no faith and trust in the judicial
system.

"Paxton has filed lawsuits
in other courts, too. He filed challenges to Obama-era immigration laws
in a court in South Texas, which also has a reliably conservative judge
on the bench.

They all do it.
Both parties. Needs to change. ... Hear the rumble?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-28-18

In follow up to the last
edition, think Judge Sullivan isn't a truly great judge? NPR reports:

"A name not normally in
the news figured in some of it this week. U.S. District Judge Emmet G.
Sullivan delayed Michael Flynn's sentencing and questioned the suggestion
of prosecutors that he receive a lenient sentence. "I can't make any guarantees,"
he told President Trump's former national security adviser, "but I'm not
hiding my disgust, my disdain for this criminal offense." He pointed to
the flag in his courtroom and said, "Arguably, that undermines everything
this flag over here stands for." A day later, Judge Sullivan halted the
administration policy that made it difficult for immigrants to ask for
asylum because of domestic abuse or gang violence. Judge Sullivan called
those policies "arbitrary, capricious" and "unlawful."

"Emmet Sullivan has been
a jurist since he was appointed to the Superior Court of D.C. in 1984 by
President Ronald Reagan, and the U.S. District Judge for the District of
Columbia in 1994 by President Bill Clinton. Over that time, he has pleased
and/or upset both Republican and Democratic administrations."

Truly, non-partisan.

"He threw out the federal
corruption case against the late Republican Sen. Ted Stevens of Alaska.
He told the government in August to "turn that plane around" when a mother
and daughter from El Salvador were flown out of the country before their
asylum case could be decided. "It's outrageous," the judge added. I was
once called for jury duty in Judge Sullivan's courtroom. He was unfailingly
and conspicuously courteous, to lawyers, courtroom staff and the jury pool.
"We are grateful for your service," he told us. "You men and women make
democracy work. You hold the fate of a fellow citizen in your hands. There
is no more important duty." I was excused from the jury before the case
began. I am not only a journalist, which makes attorneys uneasy, but also
the stepson of a man, whom I loved, who was once convicted of a crime.
Judge Sullivan called me back into his chambers. "I'm sure you could be
a fair juror," he told me. "It's just wise to avoid any side issue when
a man is on trial for a serious charge." I was touched by Judge Sullivan's
regard for a defendant and an individual juror. I was impressed by his
innate, even slightly old-fashioned courtesy, and wound up putting his
name on a character in a novel. He sent me a note with characteristic humility.
In a week when Washington, D.C., bristled with showdowns, a shutdown, pleas
and threats, Judge Sullivan's independence and sense of duty reminded us
what the flag in his courtroom stands for."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-28-18

Additional pressure on
the Trump nazi. NBC News reports:

"The Trump administration
may be violating federal court orders that found it had unlawfully canceled
a federal program to prevent teen pregnancies and shifted that funding
to efforts focused primarily on abstinence, Senate Democrats said in a
new letter obtained by NBC News. In the letter, sent to Health and Human
Services Secretary Alex Azar on Wednesday, the Democrats said they're concerned
the administration may be violating the court order by using a third-party
government contractor to direct federal funds toward abstinence programs.
"By attempting to direct funding in accordance with ideological goals,
rather than towards the development of evidence-based practices, the Trump-Pence
Administration is undoing years of progress towards supporting adolescent
sexual and reproductive health and wellbeing," the letter, signed by Sens.
Patty Murray, D-Wash., Tammy Baldwin, D-Wisc., Cory Booker, D-N.J., and
Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, said."

What they're clearly trying
to do is impose their perverse religious and ideological views on
others.

"Earlier this year, federal
courts ruled five times against the administration's termination of the
Teen Pregnancy Prevention Program, an annual $101 million effort created
under the Obama administration with bipartisan support in Congress to help
teenagers avoid unwanted pregnancies. Later, courts in New York and Oregon
found that redirecting the funds to abstinence programs that are not "proven
effective through rigorous evaluation" is "unlawful." According to a government
contracting website, shortly after the court rulings, HHS awarded $21.5
million to the MITRE Corporation, a nonprofit that performs federally funded
research, for a "Teen Pregnancy Prevention Study." Details have not been
made available to Congress, yet in recent years, MITRE has done a significant
amount of work for HHS studying “sexual risk avoidance education,” or abstinence-focused
research. “I am deeply concerned what the administration is doing is going
in an ideological direction and they’re contracting out money contrary
to the actual mission of the program and contrary to what the courts are
doing,” Murray told NBC News in an interview. Murray organized the letter
to Azar in the Senate, while Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Calif., organized a similar
House letter.

"Many medical professionals
credit the Obama-era program with helping to bring down the nation’s teen
pregnancy rate to an all-time low.

"After the program's 2010
inception, teen pregnancy and birth rates fell faster than ever, and health
professionals, including the American College of Obstetricians & Gynecologists,
expressed alarm at its cancellation. They also warned that considerable
research and money already invested in the program would be wasted if the
program were to be terminated, and the number of at-risk teens would increase.
The program's cancellation was directed by political appointees over the
objections of career experts at the agency, NBC News reported in March
based on internal notes and emails. Critics say the administration’s opposition
to the TPPP is part of a broader effort by the Trump administration to
target programs intended to improve women’s reproductive health. This includes
attempting to roll back a federal contraceptive coverage provision allowing
women to avoid out-of-pocket costs for birth control and the targeting
of the Title X family planning program, which has a disproportionate impact
on low-income women."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Highly reminiscent
of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors,
Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black
who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they
please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.
It's appalling. Runs against the grain of everything our formerly
great country once stood for. No longer.

Out of control ICE jackbooted
bastards. NPR reports:

"The Association of Legal
Aid Attorneys along with dozens of unions, immigrant rights organizations,
and community groups held a rally on December 7, 2017 at Brooklyn Borough
Hall
to call on the Office of Court Administration and Chief Judge Janet DiFiore
to prohibit Immigration & Customs Enforcement agents from entering
state courthouses, and to end coordination with ICE. For 25 years, schools,
hospitals and places of worship have effectively been off-limits to federal
immigration officers. Now, a group of dozens of former state and federal
judges is asking U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement to add courthouses
to the list of "sensitive locations" where their officers generally do
not go."

No longer. The jackbooted
bastards are ubiquitous, -- like flies on shit. ... Right,
Sheriff?

"Judges simply cannot
do their jobs — and our justice system cannot function effectively — if
victims, defendants, witnesses, and family members do not feel secure in
accessing the courthouse," said the judges in a letter Wednesday to Acting
Director Ronald Vitiello. "ICE's reliance on immigration arrests in courthouses
instills fear in clients and deters them from seeking justice in a court
building." The judges cited reports of a marked increase in ICE activity
in courts over the past two years. One study by the Immigrant Defense Project
found a 1200 percent increase in arrests and attempted arrests across New
York state from 2016 to 2017. Arrests have been documented in dozens of
states, the judges wrote, affecting survivors of domestic violence, parents
seeking to protect their children from unsafe living conditions, and even
victims of human trafficking."

Matters not to a jackbooted
bastard in uniform who gets his cookies off abusing authority. ...
Right,
Sheriff?

"We know firsthand that
for courts to effectively do justice, ensure public safety, and serve their
communities, the public must be able to access courthouses safely and without
fear of retribution," the judges said. "For many, however, ICE's courthouse
arrests have made courts places to avoid."

"In a January memo, ICE
said it would limit its civil immigration enforcement actions inside courthouses
to only certain people, such as gang members, those with criminal convictions,
or people who pose national security threats. ICE officers won't go after
family members of arrest targets unless they try to intervene. Officers
"should exercise sound judgment when enforcing federal law and make substantial
efforts to avoid unnecessarily alarming the public," the memo said."

Not good enough.
Nowhere near.

"That assurance didn't
go far enough, the judges wrote. "Following nearly two years of high profile
ICE courthouse activity, only unequivocal guarantees and protections will
restore the public's confidence that it can safely pursue justice in our
nation's courts."

No question. Law
enforcement cannot be trusted. Lies like hell. Yet, it's legal
for them to do so. Not so for their victims. Goddamned double
standard. Not to mention legalized murder of innocent unarmed civilians,
legalized theft vis a vis asset forfeiture, etc.. List can go on
and on. Precisely, one of the reasons why these outrageously corrupt
bastards have zero credibility. Cannot be trusted. ... Right,
Sheriff?

"In an FAQ on its web
site, ICE says that "courthouse arrests seem to be occurring more frequently"
because some law enforcement agencies no longer work with ICE agents as
easily as they used to. "The increasing unwillingness of some jurisdictions
to cooperate with ICE in the safe and orderly transfer of targeted aliens
inside their prisons and jails has necessitated additional at-large arrests."

Unadulterated, blatant
horse shit. ... Right, Sheriff? F--k these jackbooted
bastards. Aren't worth a crap. Continually abrogate their oaths
of office to protect and defend the United States Constitution. ...
Right,
Bill? No principles. No honor. Lying, conniving, abusive,
murderous jackbooted thieving thugs. The American Civil Liberties
Union needs to step up and represent the victims of this abusive law enforcement
agency.

To say nothing of innocent
civilians all across our formerly great country who are victimized by abusive
police. Need far better representation than a public defender.
Forget? It's how the bastards in government line government coffers.
All too often, looting the innocent. Those on the bottom of the food
chain. ... Right, Sheriff?

No justice. The
American Way. Nazi America. When is this shit finally going
to end? All of it. Wake up, Sheriff. Again,
where
is dashcam video of the killing of Jeffrey Gray Wise, 52, of Austin by
DPS and the Llano County Sheriff's Office? One hundred thirty
nine weeks, now. A goddamned disgrace.

Why are you
still
sitting on this information? What are you hiding, Sheriff?
What is the identity of the officers who killed Wise? Too gutless
to release this information to the public that pays your salary and that
of your goons? Reportedly, there were three officers involved in
the shooting. Who the hell are they?

When will the goddamned
'law' 'enforcement' community finally stop making excuses for engaging
in outrageous criminal activity including blatant murder, violent assault,
sexual assault, theft, drug trafficking, etc.? List can go on and
on. Protecting its own no matter what it does or doesn't do?
Convenient, isn't it, Sheriff? No foreign power, no terrorist organization,
not even the criminal element presents a greater threat to life, liberty,
all civil and constitutional rights and liberties than all branches and
levels of government, -- including law enforcement.

Corruption within law
enforcement remains an existential threat to life, liberty, all civil and
constitutional rights and liberties. So what else is new? ...
Right,
Bill? Same old duplicitous, aggressively stupid shit occurs right
here in Nazi Llano County. ... Doesn't it, Sheriff?

Think it'll change any
time soon? Don't hold your breath, readers. Not how things
work in Nazi America, right, Sheriff? Highly reminiscent
of how your goons operate though, isn't it, Bill? Forget?
'Stupid is as stupid does.' F--ked up is f--ked up no matter where,
no matter how. Problem throughout all law enforcement.

Including right here in
Nazi Llano County, right, Sheriff? Too many officers clearly
have their heads securely lodged where the sun seldom shines. Egregious
insanity continues to be perpetrated by the criminal jackbooted bastards
in blue. Ongoing issue. All over our formerly great country.

Not just in Dallas as
in the Guyger case, but all over the nation. No end to it.
Surprised? Why? In today's increasingly national socialist
climate anything goes, right, Bill? Live in a de facto fascist
police-state, quickly transitioning to the Trump nazi's
Fourth Reich.
Certainly, a problem here in Nazi Llano County,
isn't it, Sheriff?
Your goons, however, aren't held accountable when they egregiously f--k
up. Ever.

Equally pointedly, why
hasn't Llano County Deputy Leroy Rodriguez, Badge #764 been held criminally
accountable for egregious abuse of power involving denial of property rights
to a Kingsland property owner? To say nothing of consequent resultant
physical damage done to a motor home on that property. Why are you
protecting this clueless son of a bitch, Sheriff? Why hasn't he been
prosecuted for official oppression? Where is financial compensation
for the damage this jackbooted piece of human excrement is responsible
for?

Ferociously pointedly,
why is the District Attorney and the County Attorney continuing to protect
this jackbooted piece of shit? He and others like him present an
exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional rights and
liberties.

You're not doing your
jobs, Sheriff. You've got a loose vicious dog problem in Kingsland,
Bill. When will you and the troops finally do something about this
ongoing issue? Certainly, a recurring problem on Skyline, particularly
on occasion at the intersection of Odessa. Pedestrians, runners,
and cyclists are at risk. Too busy lining County coffers with bogus
tickets?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Highly reminiscent
of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors,
Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black
who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they
please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.
It's appalling. Runs against the grain of everything our formerly
great country once stood for. No longer.

More of the same.
CNN News reports;

"A 7-year-old Guatemalan
girl died last week, hours after she was taken into Border Patrol custody,
the Department of Homeland Security said. The Washington Post first reported
Thursday that the girl died of dehydration and septic shock last week in
El Paso, Texas after she was taken into custody by Border Patrol after
crossing illegally with her father into the United States. "Our sincerest
condolences go out to the family of the child," the Department of Homeland
Security, which oversees Border Patrol, said in a statement. "Border Patrol
agents took every possible step to save the child's life under the most
trying of circumstances. As fathers and mothers, brothers and sisters,
we empathize with the loss of any child."

Think so? An investigation
is underway to determine if that is indeed true.

"The girl and her father
were part of a large group of migrants who approached Border Patrol agents
in a remote area of the New Mexico desert last Thursday, the newspaper
reported, citing US Customs and Border Protection records. The child began
having seizures hours after she was taken into custody and was airlifted
to the Providence Children's Hospital in El Paso, CBP told the Post. She
went into cardiac arrest and was revived by medics but the girl couldn't
recover and died less than 24 hours later, DHS told CNN in a statement.
"Due to patient confidentiality, the hospital is unable to provide any
patient information and is referring any inquiries regarding this patient
to CBP," said Monique Poessiger, a hospital spokeswoman. A DHS spokesperson
said an autopsy will be performed but the results could take several weeks.

"Congressman Joaquin Castro,
D-Texas, said late Thursday in a statement he was "devastated by reports
that a seven-year-old girl who was taken into Customs and Border Patrol
custody died of dehydration and exhaustion. I'll be asking for a full investigation
by the Inspector General and Congress into the conditions and circumstances
that led to her death." "We can do better as a nation," said Castro, a
member of the House Foreign Affairs and House Intelligence Committees.
"This is a humanitarian crisis and we have a moral obligation to ensure
these vulnerable families can safely seek asylum, which is legal under
immigration and international law at our borders," Castro's statement said."

Clearly, Trump and his
henchmen couldn't care less.

"Cynthia Pompa, advocacy
manager for the ACLU Border Rights Center, in a statement called for "a
rigorous investigation into how this tragedy happened and serious reforms
to prevent future deaths." "This tragedy represents the worst possible
outcome when people, including children, are held in inhumane conditions,"
the statement said. "Lack of accountability, and a culture of cruelty within
CBP have exacerbated policies that lead to migrant deaths. In 2017, migrant
deaths increased even as the number of border crossings dramatically decreased."

Both CBP and ICE are jackbooted
law enforcement agencies that desperately need to be abolished and replaced.

"Democratic Rep. Beto
O'Rourke of Texas on Thursday called for transparency in the investigation
of the child's death. "I am deeply saddened by this girl's death. There
must be a complete investigation and the results shared with Congress and
the public," he tweeted. The girl's death comes months after a toddler
died six weeks after being released from an Immigrations and Customs Enforcement
facility in Dilley, Texas. The toddler's mother and her attorneys alleged
she contracted a respiratory infection after they arrived to the detention
center and ICE provided substandard medical care for the toddler. The toddler
and her mother came from Guatemala and were detained after crossing into
the US via the Rio Grande."

CBP failed to immediately
report the most recent death as required by law and had not identified
the girl. CNN News followed up with this:

"Her name was Jakelin
Amei Rosmery Caal Maquin, and she had traveled with her father from a rural
indigenous community in Guatemala's Alta Verapaz region. They were among
a large group of migrants whom Border Patrol agents detained last week
in a remote area of the New Mexico desert. Two days later, 7-year-old Jakelin
was dead after becoming violently ill, according to Tekandi Paniagua, Guatemalan
general consul in Del Río, Texas.

"Jakelin and her father,
Nery Gilberto Caal Cuz, 29, hailed from the Mayan Q'eqchi' community of
Raxruha, Paniagua said. After the migrants were detained December 6, Jakelin
started vomiting and suffered a high fever en route to a Customs and Border
Protection station in Lordsburg, New Mexico, according to Paniagua. She
was treated by a medical team, but her condition worsened the following
morning. She had seizures and was airlifted to a hospital in El Paso, Texas,
where she suffered cardiac arrest. On Saturday morning, Customs and Border
Protection agents informed Guatemalan authorities that Jakelin had died,
Paniagua said. On Monday, Paniagua met with Jakelin's father, who he said
was devastated and was allowed by US authorities to see his daughter one
last time. The Washington Post first reported Thursday that the girl died
of dehydration and septic shock last week in El Paso after Border Patrol
took her into custody when she crossed illegally with her father into the
United States."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"President Trump denied
Thursday that he had directed his former personal lawyer Michael Cohen
to break the law during the 2016 campaign by buying the silence of two
women who claimed they once had affairs with the future president. In morning
tweets, Trump, however, did not dispute that he had directed Cohen to make
the payments, as Cohen and federal prosecutors have alleged — actions that
could imperil Trump if he knew what was being done violated campaign finance
laws."

Ignorance of the law is
no excuse if you're a peasant and get caught doing so.
Not so, -- at the top of the food chain. Most convenient double standard
for the high and mighty, isn't it?

"The president claimed
that Cohen bore responsibility for any violations of criminal law but also
asserted that Cohen “probably was not guilty” of even civil violations
related to the payments to former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal and adult-film
star Stormy Daniels — a view at odds with that of many lawyers who specialize
in campaign finance law."

Say what? Is
Trump now a lawyer? Playing one? LOL.

“Those charges were just
agreed to by him in order to embarrass the president and get a much reduced
prison sentence, which he did,” Trump alleged."

Think so?

"Cohen was sentenced to
three years in prison Wednesday for what U.S. District Judge William H.
Pauley III called a “veritable smorgasbord of criminal conduct” — crimes
that included tax violations and lying to a bank as well as those related
to the hush-money payments. Trump’s tweets Thursday were his first public
comments about Cohen since his sentencing. On Wednesday afternoon, the
president ignored questions shouted by reporters about his onetime loyalist.
“I never directed Michael Cohen to break the law,” he said Thursday. “He
was a lawyer and he is supposed to know the law. It is called ‘advice of
counsel,’ and a lawyer has great liability if a mistake is made. That is
why they get paid.”

'Hear no evil, see
no evil, speak no evil.'

"During a television interview
Thursday, Lanny Davis, an adviser to Cohen, said Trump’s credibility is
questionable. Davis pointed to an assertion Trump made in April to reporters
aboard Air Force One that he knew nothing about a $130,000 payment to Daniels.
The White House has since changed its story. In a television interview
in May, Trump personal lawyer Rudolph W. Giuliani said that Trump had repaid
Cohen for money he gave to Daniels. The next day, White House press secretary
Sarah Huckabee Sanders was pressed by reporters on why she had previously
denied Trump had any knowledge of the payment. Sanders said she had “given
the best information I had at the time.”

Like her fuhrer,
Ms. Sanders is a liar.

"In his three tweets Thursday
morning, the president made no mention of a cooperation deal announced
Thursday between federal prosecutors and the National Enquirer’s parent
company, in which it acknowledged paying McDougal to “suppress the woman’s
story” and “prevent it from influencing the election.”

Interesting, isn't it?

"Prosecutors announced
that they would not prosecute the company, American Media Inc. (AMI), for
its role in a scheme to tilt the presidential race in favor of Trump. In
the agreement, AMI said it would cooperate with prosecutors and admitted
it paid McDougal $150,000 before the 2016 election to silence her allegations
of an affair with Trump."

If the kingpin is not
the ultimate target of prosecutors, why would they make a deal with AMI?

"The deal signaled the
unraveling of the deep relationship Trump and AMI chief executive David
Pecker had forged over decades. It also made clear that Pecker, whose tabloid
strongly supported Trump’s candidacy, has turned on the president."

Think Trump's not soiling
his pants?

"Daniels was paid $130,000
to silence her about an alleged decade-old dalliance with Trump. Cohen
facilitated the payments."

Hush money to protect
Trump's sorry ass.

NBC News reports:

"President Donald Trump
said Thursday that the criminal conviction of his former fixer, Michael
Cohen, is a plot to "embarrass" him."

Say what?
LOL. Did this to yourself, Donny boy. No one else to blame.
Made your bed. Now lie in it.

"They put that on to embarrass
me," Trump said, referring to campaign finance violations related to hush-money
payments made to women during the campaign that were among the charges
for which Cohen was sentenced to three years in prison. "They're not criminal
charges," the president insisted in the Fox interview, even though a federal
judge accepted Cohen's guilty plea and sentenced him on those charges and
others. "What happened is either Cohen or the prosecutors, in order to
embarrass me, said listen: I'm making this deal for reduced time and everything
else. Do me a favor and put these two charges on."

"There's no evidence the
charges were an attempt to embarrass the president."

No evidence at all.
This sick son of a bitch is lying out the ass as usual. No credibility.
Zero. Zilch. Nada. Clearly, growing increasingly
desperate. Lies, finally coming home to roost. In fact, the
charges have grown increasingly credible with ongoing additional developments
as the shit continues to hit the fan:

"They gained additional
support Wednesday when the National Enquirer's parent company, AMI, admitted
it made a $150,000 payment to former Playboy model Karen McDougal to "catch
and kill" her story about an alleged affair that Trump denies. As part
of an agreement shielding it from prosecution, AMI acknowledged its actions
on behalf of Trump were designed to help him with the 2016 election by
preventing potentially damaging allegations from becoming public."

Get this:

"Trump has argued that
the payments were not made to benefit his candidacy, but rather to hide
embarrassing allegations from his family, citing the argument used by former
Democratic Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina in a similar situation.
But Cohen, who pleaded guilty earlier this year to a series of felony counts,
including two campaign-finance violations stemming from those hush payments,
said under oath that he facilitated those expenditures at Trump's direction
with the purpose of boosting his candidacy. Prosecutors wrote in court
documents that the hush payments were made in coordination with then-candidate
Trump. The payments were made to porn star Stormy Daniels and former playboy
model Karen McDougal. McDougal's story was purchased by the National Enquirer's
parent company, whose CEO was a close friend of Trump's. Federal prosecutors
said Wednesday that the company admitted it purchased — and then refused
to publish — McDougal's story in order to benefit Trump's candidacy, preventing
what could have been damaging allegations against him from becoming public
before Americans went to the polls."

NBC News reports:

"Despite President Donald
Trump's public declaration that he isn't concerned about impeachment, he
has told people close to him in recent days that he is alarmed by the prospect,
according to multiple sources. Trump's fear about the possibility has escalated
as the consequences of federal investigations involving his associates
and Democratic control of the House sink in, the sources said, and his
allies believe maintaining the support of establishment Republicans he
bucked to win election is now critical to saving his presidency. On Wednesday
Trump was delivered another blow when federal prosecutors announced an
agreement with American Media Inc, in which the publisher of the National
Enquirer admitted to making a $150,000 payment in 2016 to silence a woman
alleging an affair with Trump, in coordination with his presidential campaign,
to prevent her story from influencing the election. The agreement with
prosecutors in the Southern District of New York follows the admission
by the president's former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, that he violated
campaign finance laws by arranging hush payments to women in 2016 at the
direction of Trump. “The entire question about whether the president committed
an impeachable offense now hinges on the testimony of two men: David Pecker
and Allen Weisselberg, both cooperating witnesses in the SDNY investigation,"
a close Trump ally told NBC News."

Noose is certainly figuratively
tightening. Trump only has himself to blame.

"Weisselberg is the chief
financial officer for Trump organization who was allegedly in the center
of the hush money operation. He was reportedly granted immunity for his
testimony. Pecker is the chief executive at AMI. The developments leave
Trump as the lone party who argues the payments were not intended to influence
the election. They also come as Trump’s search for a chief of staff is
in disarray, with no consensus around a single choice in sight after multiple
potential candidates have signaled they're not interested in the job."

Who the hell in their
right mind would want to work for an unstable idiot?

"The president has yet
to acquire a team to combat the expected influx of congressional investigations
and continued fallout from multiple federal investigations of his associates.
He’s been calling around to his friends outside the White House and allies
on Capitol Hill to vent and get the input. On Wednesday the president wasn't
in the Oval Office until noon."

Where the hell was
he?

"Some Republican lawmakers
have signaled cracks in what has been a solid wall of support for Trump
amid intensifying federal investigations after prosecutors said Friday
that Trump directed Cohen to arrange illegal payments to two women alleging
affairs. "Am I concerned that the president might be involved in a crime?
Of course," Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy of Louisiana told reporters Tuesday.
"The only question is, then, whether or not this so-called hush money is
a crime," he added. Republican Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida rattled the
White House with similarly cautious remarks Sunday when asked about Trump's
possible involvement in the violation of campaign finance laws: "If someone
has violated the law, the application of the law should be applied to them
like it would to any other citizen in this country, and obviously if you're
in a position of great authority like the presidency that would be the
case."

Sounds like a repeat of
history, doesn't it? To grossly understate the seriousness of the
current debacle, -- Nixon fiasco on steroids.

"Trump is relishing the
prospect of owning a government shutdown. But Republicans aren't."

Why would they?

"Trump has ranted about
why no one around him is doing anything to stop any of it and vented about
the lack of support he believes he has in Congress and within his own White
House, the sources tell NBC News."

For damned good reason.
The president is an abject, unmitigated failure.

"In addition to the much-anticipated
report from Mueller on the Russia investigation, Democrats could ask prosecutors
in the SDNY to similarly share details of their probe into Cohen that are
related to the president. Trump has in recent days been made aware of this
possibility from people close to him, opening up a new vulnerability for
the president."

ABC News reports:

"Donald Trump directed
Michael Cohen to arrange hush-money payments with two women because then-candidate
Trump “was very concerned about how this would affect the election” if
their allegations of affairs became public, the president’s former personal
attorney said in an exclusive interview with ABC News. Cohen’s comments
are his first since being sentenced earlier this week to three years in
federal prison for financial crimes, lying to Congress and two campaign
finance violations in connection with the deals with the women, Karen McDougal
and Stormy Daniels, who claim past affairs with Trump. “I knew what I was
doing was wrong,” Cohen told ABC News’ Chief Anchor George Stephanopoulos.
“I stood up before the world [Wednesday] and I accepted the responsibility
for my actions.” When asked if the president also knew it was wrong to
make the payments, Cohen replied, “Of course,” adding that the purpose
was to “help [Trump] and his campaign.” Cohen said he is “angry at himself”
for his role in the deals, but that he did it out of “blind loyalty” to
Trump. “I gave loyalty to someone who, truthfully, does not deserve loyalty,”
he said."

Trump is certainly soiling
his pants as the noose figuratively tightens:

"Federal prosecutors in
the Southern District of New York have implicated, but not charged, the
president in the deals reached in the closing weeks of the 2016 election.
They allege that Cohen acted “in coordination with and at the direction
of” Trump, according to court filings. Prosecutors also reached a non-prosecution
agreement with AMI, the publishers of the National Inquirer, in which the
tabloid admitted to making a $150,000 payment to McDougal “in concert”
with the Trump campaign. The president has denied allegations of the affairs
-- but has had shifting explanations about when he learned about the payments
to the women. He has also contended that the deals were private and unrelated
to the campaign and that if anything illegal occurred, it was Cohen’s responsibility.
Trump has lashed out at Cohen since his sentencing, contending in a Thursday
tweet that his former close confidant only agreed to plead guilty “in order
to embarrass the president and get a much reduced prison sentence, which
he did.” “It is absolutely not true,” Cohen said. “Under no circumstances
do I want to embarrass the president. He knows the truth. I know the truth.”

Prosecutors have far more
than Cohen's claims alone.

"Cohen was particularly
distressed by another Trump tweet on Thursday, in which the president implied
that prosecutors investigating Cohen had let his wife and father-in-law
off the hook. “Instead of him taking responsibility for his actions, what
does he do?” Cohen said. “He attacks my family.” And Cohen refuted the
president’s contention that he never directed Cohen to do anything wrong.
“I don't think there is anybody that believes that,” Cohen told Stephanopoulos.
“First of all, nothing at the Trump organization was ever done unless it
was run through Mr. Trump. He directed me to make the payments, he directed
me to become involved in these matters. “He knows the truth. I know the
truth. Others know the truth,” Cohen continued. “And here is the truth:
People of the United States of America, people of the world, don't believe
what he is saying. The man doesn't tell the truth. And it is sad that I
should take responsibility for his dirty deeds.” When confronted about
his convictions for lying to Congress and for tax evasion and banking crimes,
Cohen said he was “done with the lying. I am done being loyal to President
Trump and my first loyalty belongs to my wife, my daughter, my son and
this country.” “Why should we believe you now?” Stephanopoulos asked. “Because
the special counsel stated emphatically that the information that I gave
to them is credible and helpful,” Cohen replied. “There’s a substantial
amount of information that they possessed that corroborates the fact that
I am telling the truth.”

Consider the following:

"Cohen -- who is due to
report to prison on March 6 -- has professed his willingness to continue
to answer questions for special counsel Robert Mueller and other federal
and state investigators. He declined in the interview to answer specific
questions about the Mueller investigation “out of respect for process.”
“I don’t want to jeopardize any of their investigations,” he said. But
when asked if he thinks the president is telling the truth about the Russia
probe, Cohen replied simply, “No.” Cohen once said he would “take a bullet”
for the president, but now he finds himself opposing the president and
facing the prospect of becoming a witness against him. “It’s never good
to be on the wrong side of the president of the United States of America,
but somehow or another this task has now fallen onto my shoulders and as
I also stated ... I will spend the rest of my life in order to fix the
mistake that I made.”

Think there's redemption?
Any possibility of it?

The following is absolutely
fascinating but not surprising:

"Cohen said as he observes
Trump’s actions in the White House, he barely recognizes the man he served
for more than a decade at the Trump organization. “He’s a very different
individual,” Cohen said. “I think the pressure of the job is much more
than what he thought it was going to be. It’s not like the Trump organization
where he would bark out orders and people would blindly follow what he
wanted done. There’s a system here; he doesn’t understand the system and
it’s sad because the country has never been more divisive and one of the
hopes that I have out of the punishment that I’ve received as well as the
cooperation that I have given I will be remembered in history as helping
to bring this country back together. “I will not be the villain of his
story,” he said."

All from an insider exceptionally
close to Trump and his henchmen. In fact, was one of his henchmen.
What webs we weave.

The Washington Post
reports:

"For months, President
Trump’s spokesmen, his lawyer and his lawyer’s lawyer denied that Trump
knew about payments during his 2016 campaign to buy the silence of women
who alleged sexual encounters with him. The president himself claimed the
same. But after mounting evidence and fresh courthouse revelations of wrongdoing
this week exposed those denials as falsehoods, Trump is shifting his tune.
The president no longer disputes that he instructed his then-personal attorney,
Michael Cohen, to make the payments to former Playboy playmate Karen McDougal
and adult-film star Stephanie Clifford, who goes by the stage name Stormy
Daniels. Instead, Trump sought to evade that question Thursday by saying
he never told Cohen to break the law — making a narrow assertion that was
itself an admission that his and his team’s earlier denials were false."

Plot thickens.

"The evolving strategy
on the hush-money allegations is textbook Trump: Tell one version of events
until it falls apart, then tell a new version, and so on — until the danger
passes. “What’s happened so far is not good, and it could get worse,” said
a former senior administration official, who spoke on the condition of
anonymity to comment candidly. In reference to the Cohen case, this person
added: “Are they crimes? Yes. Is that a bad look if the president is directly
tied to it and could under normal circumstances be criminally prosecuted?
Yes. And no, that’s not a good thing.”

Trump's anxiety level
certainly has to be rising.

"The developments have
shaken people in Trump’s orbit. White House staffers say they feel uneasy
and nervous about what might come next, while Trump is publicly revealing
a sense of betrayal that his longtime lawyer implicated him in crimes.
Trump is worried about the intensifying state of not only the hush-money
investigation by the U.S. attorney in the Southern District of New York,
but also of the Russia probe by special counsel Robert S. Mueller III,
according to people with knowledge of the president’s private discussions.
The Wall Street Journal also reported Thursday that federal prosecutors
in Manhattan have opened another investigative front by probing whether
Trump’s 2017 inaugural committee misspent some of the record $107 million
it raised from donations. “He’s never been in a position where he can’t
shuck and jive and work his way out of things,” said one Republican who
works closely with the White House. “Well, it’s all coming home to roost.”

It is. Moreover,
some of the people closest to him may also wind up going down.

"The latest developments
have exposed the depth of Trump’s efforts to deceive the public about the
illegal hush-money payments, and some of his friends and advisers said
privately that they fear those efforts could imperil the president. While
there is a consensus view inside the White House that a sitting president
will not be indicted, the former senior administration official described
a deep uncertainty about other ways that Trump could be held liable. And
there is growing anxiety among Trump’s allies, including in Congress, that
he could be vulnerable to the various investigations and, eventually, Democratic-led
impeachment proceedings."

Think Republicans won't
wind up getting on board as they did during the Nixon fiasco when the truth
becomes more than obvious?

"Joyce White Vance, who
was a U.S. attorney in the Obama administration, explained that Trump may
be accustomed to a business environment in which people posture and deceive
for competitive advantage. She contrasted that atmosphere with the legal
world, in which prosecutors must operate at a high ethical standard, because
if they lie or cheat, they endanger their ability to continue practicing
law. Vance said the federal prosecutors who implicated Trump in the illegal
payments are likely to have relied on more evidence than just Cohen’s testimony.
She noted that other witnesses have been cooperating with the investigation
— including, for instance, Allen Weisselberg, the Trump Organization’s
former longtime chief financial officer. “Trump should be concerned,” Vance
said. “It’s not just the government saying it. It’s not just a single witness
saying it. Prosecutors in the Southern District of New York, who are known
for their rigor in making these assessments, have decided there’s evidence
from a number of reliable sources and that they can prove it beyond a reasonable
doubt.”

A whole different ball
game for the Trump nazi.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Plot thickens as judge
has no sympathy for former Trump crony. The Washington Post
reports:

"For a full eight minutes,
U.S. District Judge Emmet G. Sullivan read aloud an inventory of Michael
Flynn’s lies — describing his “disgust” that President Trump’s national
security adviser sought to deceive FBI agents while “on the premises of
the White House.”

Wasn't this son of a bitch
slated to likely get no prison time? LOL.

"Flynn, a retired general
who is the highest-ranking Trump aide to plead guilty as part of the special
counsel investigation, listened tensely, his face tight, as the judge ticked
through his misdeeds."

Jesus Christ. Throw
the book at him. Treat him like you would a peasant breaking the
law. Why should this piece of crap receive special treatment no matter
what assistance he gave Mueller after the fact? -- Duty, Honor, Country.
Forget?

"This was not how Flynn’s
supporters or Trump thought Tuesday’s sentencing hearing would unfold."

Bet it wasn't. Finally,
a white-collar thug has apparently run into a judge that has no sympathy.
Can we stand it? LOL.

"They had pinned their
hopes on Sullivan, an independent-minded jurist with a history of ferreting
out prosecutorial misconduct, as the one who would reveal overreach by
special counsel Robert S. Mueller III and the FBI. Some Flynn allies even
speculated the judge might toss out Flynn’s guilty plea and clear his name.
Instead, the 71-year-old ­veteran jurist used his platform to puncture
conspiracy theories that paint Flynn as a victim of deep-state persecution.
And he reminded the country of a few simple creeds commonly held in courthouses
but increasingly dismissed by the president’s allies: Lying to the FBI
is against the law. Breaking the law is bad. People who work in the White
House are supposed to be held to a higher standard."

You think?

“This is a very serious
offense,” Sullivan told Flynn, even after Mueller’s prosecutors told the
judge they agreed that Flynn should face little to no incarceration because
he cooperated with their investigation. The judge pointed to the American
flag behind his bench and told the decorated combat veteran that he had
undermined it: “Arguably, you sold your country out.”

No f--king kidding.
About time a judge had the cajones to tell it precisely like it
is.

"Sullivan’s angry lecture
from the bench — and his suggestion that he was willing to throw Flynn
in jail — injected a moment of high drama into the long-running investigation
and served as a reminder of the seriousness of the allegations that launched
the special counsel investigation. The move was in keeping with Sullivan’s
lack of tolerance for official misconduct, lawyers familiar with his court
said."

About time. Needs
to extend not only through the Executive and Legislative Branches, but
throughout the entire Judiciary. -- Right up to and including the
nazis ensconced on the highest court of the land, the United States Supreme
Court. To say nothing of state, county, and local authorities, jurisdictions.
... Right, Sheriff?

“Judge Sullivan usually
gives prosecutors a hard time, not because they’ve necessarily done anything
wrong, but because he holds the government to a very high standard,” said
Glenn Kirschner, a former federal prosecutor who has often appeared before
Sullivan. “But today, it played out to the disadvantage of the defendant.
And why? The defendant was a high-ranking government official who engaged
in egregious conduct. And Judge Sullivan turned his wrath on the defendant.”

Again, about time.

"Sullivan also expressed
frustration at a lack of information about what Flynn has given Mueller’s
team. Although the special counsel earlier this month credited the former
national security adviser with providing “substantial assistance” on his
probe and another criminal investigation, the judge said Tuesday that it
was nearly impossible to render a fair decision on Flynn’s sentencing without
knowing the details of his cooperation."

"Sullivan, the longest-serving
active federal judge on the U.S. District Court in Washington, was first
appointed to the local D.C. Superior Court by President Ronald Reagan in
1984. He was named to the D.C. appeals court by President George H.W. Bush
and appointed to the federal bench by President Bill Clinton."

Imagine that. A
bi-partisan judge. Couldn't be, could it? LOL.

"The product of Houston
and Gardner, a storied Washington civil rights law firm, Sullivan is best
known for his robust enforcement of the rule that prosecutors must disclose
any evidence that could help defendants establish their innocence. Defense
attorneys have given him the nickname “Brady,” a reference to the Supreme
Court ruling requiring the disclosure of such exculpatory material."

Sounds like an honest
judge. Hard to believe that's possible in the current political atmosphere,
isn't it? LOL.

"In 2009, Sullivan overturned
the bribery conviction of former senator Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) after it
was discovered that FBI agents and prosecutors had improperly withheld
that their key witnesses against him had given differing accounts. Before
the 2016 election, Sullivan had criticized Democratic candidate Hillary
Clinton’s use of a private email address while secretary of state, at one
point during a public records lawsuit decrying the “drip, drip, drip” of
revelations about her email use. “When does it stop?” he wondered."

Republican nazis, for
their part, certainly underestimated this judge. Consider the following:

"So Trump’s allies were
cheered when Sullivan last week ordered Flynn’s lawyers and Mueller’s team
to turn over FBI records detailing agents’ interview with Flynn in January
2017. His demand came a day after Flynn’s attorneys argued their client
deserved no prison time, stressing in a court filing that he had been “unguarded”
when telling FBI agents about his conversations with the Russian ambassador
during the presidential transition. Some Flynn allies, including the president,
speculated that the judge was probing possible FBI misconduct. “I think
it’s a great thing that the judge is looking into that situation,” Trump
told reporters. The president tweeted “good luck” to Flynn early Tuesday."

"On Fox News, Trump ally
and former judge Jeanine Pirro predicted Sullivan would throw out Flynn’s
conviction. The Wall Street Journal published an editorial alleging that
the FBI’s treatment of Flynn “reeks of entrapment” and calling on Sullivan
to “question the entire plea deal.” Sullivan did. But not the way they
expected."

Not at all:

"On Tuesday, nearly a
dozen members of Mueller’s team showed up at the downtown Washington courtroom
for the hearing, filling the front bench. Flynn, wearing a blue suit, was
flanked by his two attorneys. Sullivan quickly indicated that he was offended
by Flynn’s suggestion that he was misled by FBI agents. And he said it
appeared that the former national security adviser was trying to have it
both ways: to take a generous plea deal even as he telegraphed that he
might have been entrapped. Sullivan said the FBI records — many of which
the judge forced to be publicly disclosed in recent days — showed Flynn
had repeatedly lied to agents, despite knowing it was a crime to do so.
“You understand why” I was concerned, the judge told Flynn’s attorney Robert
Kelner. “This sounds like a backpedaling on the acceptance of responsibility.”
Kelner told the judge that he and co-counsel Steven Anthony were trying
to show in their filing how Flynn was different from others who have admitted
lying to special counsel investigators, noting that agents did not warn
him he was under investigation and that he did not have an attorney advising
him."

Clearly, the judge would
have none of it:

"But Sullivan rejected
that argument, saying Flynn should be held to a higher standard.

“He was a high-ranking
government official, advising the president of the United States,” Sullivan
said. “I’m not hiding my disgust, my disdain, for this criminal offense.”
Sullivan also demanded to know from prosecutor Brandon Van Grack whether
Flynn could have been charged with treason. Van Grack appeared to try to
sidestep the question. He apologized to the judge, saying he didn’t want
to misspeak about the case but that he believed the most he could say was
that the special counsel did not consider such a charge “based on the evidence
that the government had at the time.” Later, Van Grack told the judge that
prosecutors did not believe Flynn committed treason. Nevertheless, Sullivan
warned Flynn that he believed Mueller’s recommendation that Flynn serve
little to no prison time was probably too kind. “I can’t promise you a
sentence that involves no jail time,” the judge said."

Fascinating, isn't it?
About time a judge finally stood up to this ongoing bullshit.

"After a 30-minute recess
to confer with his lawyers, Flynn agreed to delay sentencing until a later
date, when prosecutors presumably could reveal more about the nature of
his cooperation. Sullivan ended the tense hearing with a status conference
set for March. At day’s end, the judge issued one last shot at Flynn, ensuring
that he understood he will be treated like all other defendants. Noting
that there had been no restrictions on Flynn’s travel, Sullivan wrote in
an order that beginning Jan. 4, the former general will no longer be allowed
to travel more than 50 miles outside Washington without permission. He
will also have to surrender his passport."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Another Trump crony skates.
No justice. NPR reports:

"A specially appointed
federal panel of judges has dismissed all 83 ethics complaints brought
against Justice Brett Kavanaugh regarding his conduct at his confirmation
hearings. The judges concluded that while the complaints "are serious,"
there is no existing authority that allows lower court judges to investigate
or discipline Supreme Court justices."

Kangaroo justice from
an achingly national socialist, fascist, nazi judiciary. -- So what
else is new?

"The complaints against
Kavanaugh ranged from allegations that he had misled the Senate about some
of his activities in the George W. Bush White House to his angry, partisan
statements in denying charges of sexual assault in high school. At his
contentious confirmation hearings, Kavanaugh railed against Democrats,
accusing them of engaging in a liberal conspiracy, a sort of payback for
his onetime role as a prosecutor investigating President Bill Clinton.
"This whole two-week effort has been a calculated and orchestrated political
hit fueled with apparent pent-up anger about President Trump and the 2016
election, fear that has been unfairly stoked about my judicial record,
revenge on behalf of the Clintons, and millions of dollars in money from
outside left-wing opposition groups," Kavanaugh thundered. "This is a circus.
... And as we all know, in the United States political system of the early
2000s, what goes around comes around."

Clearly, this nazi 'justice'
does not have the temperament expected, moreover, required of a jurist.
Doesn't matter to his fellow nazis in the judiciary, however. Fascinating,
isn't it? Get this:

"After the hearings concluded,
Chief Justice John Roberts appointed a special judicial council panel of
judges from the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals to look into the ethics complaints
against Kavanaugh. But shortly thereafter, Kavanaugh was confirmed for
a lifetime seat on the U.S. Supreme Court. And on Tuesday, Chief Judge
Tim Tymkovich, of the 10th Circuit, acknowledged that while the complaints
"are serious," the judicial council panel is obligated to dismiss them,
because it has no authority over Kavanaugh."

Jesus Christ. Unbelievable.
No justice. No oversight. -- Impeachment is out of the question
since although the House will be soon in Democratic control, the Senate
is still owned and ruled by Republican fascists who would never vote for
conviction.

"The judicial council
is empowered to act against lower court judges, he said, but it lacks any
statutory authority to investigate or act on complaints against Supreme
Court justices. That is, in part, because the Supreme Court was established
by the Constitution, while the lower courts were established by Congress.
Some reformers have long urged Congress to enact a code of conduct for
the Supreme Court and to put in place some sort of disciplinary mechanism
short of impeachment."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Trump obstruction of justice
in the military. NBC News reports:

"President Donald Trump’s
announcement over the weekend that he will be "reviewing" the case of a
former Army Green Beret charged with murder has caused worry in national
security and military circles — since it is the kind of thing he is not
supposed to do. On Thursday, Major Matthew Golsteyn, was informed that
he was charged with premeditated murder in the 2010 killing of an alleged
Afghan bomb maker. According to all sides involved, Golsteyn first admitted
to the killing during a CIA job interview in 2011, which triggered an investigation
by the Army Criminal Investigation Command, or CID. They launched a probe,
but did not charge him with any crime due to lack of physical evidence.
Golsteyn was, however, issued a formal reprimand and stripped of his Silver
Star, the military's third highest award for valor, and his Special Forces
patch."

What webs we weave.
Gets worse. Get this:

"Yet, now that the probe
has been rekindled in a military court, Golsteyn faces a maximum penalty
of death. Golsteyn told NBC News on Monday that he believes his case came
under renewed scrutiny after he spoke of the incident in an October 2016
Fox News interview. And Golsteyn seemed to catch the president’s attention
after a segment about the case aired on the weekend edition of Fox &
Friends — Trump even tagged Fox News' Pete Hegseth and Fox News in his
tweet about Golsteyn. At the request of many, I will be reviewing the case
of a “U.S. Military hero,” Major Matt Golsteyn, who is charged with murder.
He could face the death penalty from our own government after he admitted
to killing a Terrorist bomb maker while overseas."

That's a problem.
The president is supposed to let justice take its course:

"Rachel VanLandingham,
the former chief of international law with United States Central Command
under President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama, and now a professor
at Southwestern Law School, told NBC News that, "as commander in chief,
[Trump] has an obligation to ensure a fair administration of military justice."
To do this, VanLandingham said, the president cannot pressure lower-level
commanders to make decisions, which she believes the President's Sunday
tweet does. Dr. Karen Greenberg, director of Fordham Law School’s Center
for National Security, agreed, telling NBC News “It’s inappropriate for
the executive [branch] to interfere.” While Trump is well within his rights
to look into any military case, pending or complete, it is specifically
his public announcement so early in the court proceedings that is drawing
concern. A date for the initial hearing in Golsteyn’s case has yet to be
set, and a decision to prosecute has not yet been made."

Here is the problem:

"U.S. law requires that
the Army fully investigate any and every allegation of a war crime. Trump
could legally pardon Golsteyn even before the case goes through the military
court, but some see this as a rebuke to the rule of law and an indifference
to the judicial system."

So what else is new?
Certainly, one of many reasons Trump remains unfit for office.

"VanLandingham noted that
the president's tweet "puts the Army in a hard spot because it misunderstands
that the Army is doing its job."

Trump has no clue.

"Despite some precedent,
Greenberg stressed that "for the most just outcome, what you want is the
judicial system — whether they’re inside the military or whether they’re
inside the federal court system — to operate independently." "To interfere
in the charging or other procedural part of the military trial would be
unacceptable," Greenberg said. She added that his tweet is "one more sign
of the president’s disregard for the courts, and their presumed independence
from White House interference."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Pressure grows.
CBS News reports:

"President Donald Trump
has agreed to shut down his family's embattled Trump Foundation, following
investigators' allegations the charity misused funds by directing them
to Mr. Trump or his businesses."

"New York Attorney General
Barbara D. Underwood said in a statement the Trump Foundation had signed
an agreement to dissolve the charity under court supervision. The attorney
general will review and approve the process, including approving the charities
slated to receive the foundation's remaining assets. The attorney general's
office filed a lawsuit in June accusing the Trump Foundation of misusing
funds for personal benefit, including Trump Organization legal payments
and Mr. Trump's 2016 presidential campaign. Among the claims were that
the foundation raised money at a nationally televised fundraiser in January
2016, then allowed Trump campaign staffers to dictate how the money was
spent in grants."

Convenient, wasn't it?

"The lawsuit, which seeks
to bar Mr. Trump and his three eldest children from serving on the boards
of other New York-based charities, will continue, the AG said in the statement.
The lawsuit also seeks "millions in restitution" for what it said was a
"a shocking pattern of illegality."

Then, why the hell hasn't
he been prosecuted? No one in this country is above the law, -- not
even our nazi fuhrer. Time to rethink this shit about not
indicting and prosecuting a sitting president. Enabling a criminal
in the Oval Office destroys all faith and trust in the system. Especially,
when GOP nazis remain in bed with this piece of crap.

Wake up.
Get this:

"The Trump Foundation
functioned "as little more than a checkbook to serve Mr. Trump's business
and political interests," Underwood said in the statement. "This is an
important victory for the rule of law, making clear that there is one set
of rules for everyone."

Goddamned right.

"The Trump Foundation
could not be immediately reached for comment."

What the f--k could they
possibly say?

The Washington Post
reports:

"President Trump has agreed
to shut down his embattled personal charity and to give away its remaining
money amid allegations that he used the foundation for his personal and
political benefit, New York Attorney General Barbara Underwood announced
Tuesday. Underwood said that the Donald J. Trump Foundation is dissolving
as her office pursues its lawsuit against the charity, Trump and his three
eldest children. The suit, filed in June, alleged “persistently illegal
conduct” at the foundation and sought to have it shut down. Underwood is
continuing to seek more than $2.8 million in restitution and has asked
a judge to ban the Trumps temporarily from serving on the boards of other
New York nonprofit organizations. Underwood said Tuesday that her investigation
found “a shocking pattern of illegality involving the Trump Foundation
— including unlawful coordination with the Trump presidential campaign,
repeated and willful self-dealing, and much more.”

“This is an important
victory for the rule of law, making clear that there is one set of rules
for everyone,” she added in a statement."

-- Not if the son of a
bitch continues to be protected and coddled, not prosecuted.

"The shuttering comes
after The Washington Post documented apparent lapses at the foundation.
Trump used the charity’s money to pay legal settlements for his private
business, to purchase art for one of his clubs and to make a prohibited
political donation. Trump denied that the organization had done anything
wrong. In late 2016, he said he wanted to close the foundation, but the
New York attorney general blocked that move while it investigated. The
settlement with Underwood’s office represents a concession by Trump to
a state investigation he decried as a partisan attack. The case is one
of numerous legal investigations of Trump organizations that have proliferated
during his presidency."

Wake up.
We've got a problem. A serious problem.

"In a court filing in
New York, Underwood said that the foundation’s remaining $1.75 million
would be distributed to other charities approved by her office and a state
judge. The attorney general’s suit alleges that Trump used his charity’s
money as his own piggy bank — including to help his presidential campaign
by paying for giveaways at Iowa rallies."

Goddamned disgrace.
No principles. No heart. No soul. Amoral.

“The Foundation was little
more than a checkbook for payments to not-for-profits from Mr. Trump or
the Trump Organization,” Underwood wrote in the initial suit. The Trump
Foundation was never the most impressive part of Trump’s portfolio: At
its peak, in 2009, it had only about $3.2 million in the bank, a small
sum for a billionaire’s charity. The real estate mogul used other people’s
donations to build up the foundation’s assets. In recent years, the largest
gifts came from pro-wrestling moguls Vince and Linda McMahon, not Trump."

A piece of human excrement.

Get this:

"Trump gave away the money
in his name and also used the foundation to pay his business’s legal settlements.
Federal law prohibits using charity money for personal gain. The Post’s
reporting showed that, for years, Trump appeared to treat the foundation
— which was, by law, an independent entity — as a checkbook for gifts that
bolstered his interests."

Prosecute. We
have no kings, queens, dictators in a supposedly democratic republic.

"The largest donation
in the foundation’s history — a $264,231 gift to the Central Park Conservancy
in 1989 — appeared to benefit Trump’s business: It paid to restore a fountain
outside Trump’s Plaza Hotel. The smallest, a $7 foundation gift to the
Boy Scouts that same year, appeared to benefit Trump’s family. It matched
the amount required to enroll a boy in the Scouts the year that his son
Donald Trump Jr. was 11."

Jesus Christ. How
low can you go? Amoral piece of human excrement.

"The attorney general’s
investigation turned up evidence that Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump and
Ivanka Trump — all listed as officers of the charity — had never held a
board meeting. The board hadn’t met since 1999. The charity’s official
treasurer, Trump Organization executive Allen Weisselberg, told investigators
that he wasn’t aware that he was on the board."

That right?
LOL.

"State investigators asked
him what the foundation’s policies were to determine whether its payments
were proper. “There’s no policy, just so you understand,” Weisselberg said.
At one point, Trump used the charity’s money to make a $25,000 political
donation to Florida Attorney General Pamela Bondi (R). The charity didn’t
tell the IRS about that, as required — and instead listed that donation
as a gift to an unrelated charity in Kansas with a similar name. Trump’s
team blamed accounting mistakes. During the 2016 campaign, state investigators
allege, Trump effectively “ceded control” of his charity to his political
campaign. He raised more than $2 million at a fundraiser in Iowa that flowed
into the foundation. Then, the state said, Trump campaign manager Corey
Lewandowski determined when and where it would be given away. “Is there
any way we can make some disbursements ... this week while in Iowa?” Lewandowski
wrote in an email cited in Underwood’s lawsuit."

If these allegations are
indeed true, Trump needs to be prosecuted. So do all those involved
in this fiasco, -- including family members.

"Trump gave away oversize
checks from the foundation at campaign events in the key early-voting states
of Iowa and New Hampshire, pausing his campaign rallies to donate to local
veterans’ groups. Federal law prohibits charities from participating in
political campaigns. As president, Trump has called repeatedly for that
law to be repealed."

Goddamned hypocrite.

Insult to injury?
Get this:

"The demise of the Trump
Foundation still leaves one mystery regarding a large portrait of Trump
that the future president bought for $20,000 in 2007, using money from
the charity. What became of it after that is unknown. In 2017, after The
Post wrote about the portrait, Trump listed it as an asset on his charity’s
IRS forms. He assigned it a value of $700. But he did not say where it
was. On this year’s tax forms, however, the painting’s value was listed
at $0. Trump’s attorney did not respond to a query from The Post about
why."

... Got to be a special
place in Hell.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Appears increasingly that
US jurisdiction extends across the universe. Not all agree, however.
Imagine that. NBC News reports:

"The detentions of two
Canadians in China this week have raised the stakes in a three-way international
dispute with the United States. China's Foreign Ministry confirmed Thursday
that it was holding two Canadian men on suspicion of "endangering national
security." The broadly defined charge encompasses both traditional espionage
and other forms of information gathering such as interviewing political
dissidents and contacting non-governmental organizations."

"Earlier, the Canadian
government said that Michael Spavor, a China-based entrepreneur who organizes
tours to North Korea, had gone missing. His disappearance follows the detention
of former Canadian diplomat Michael Kovrig in Beijing on Monday."

Imagine that. All
related to the aggressive stupidity of our fuhrer in the Oval Office.

"Chinese Foreign Ministry
spokesman Lu Kang declined to say whether the men have been provided with
lawyers. He said they are being handled separately. The two cases ratchet
up pressure on Canada, which is holding a Chinese telecommunications executive
wanted by the United States. The U.S. is seeking the extradition of Meng
Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei Technologies, who was arrested
in Vancouver on Dec. 1. Canadian officials have not been able to contact
Spavor "since he let us know he was being questioned by Chinese authorities,"
Canadian Global Affairs spokesman Guillaume Bérubé said.
"We are working very hard to ascertain his whereabouts and we continue
to raise this with the Chinese government."

To date, to no avail.

"Another Canadian, Keven
Garratt, spent 750 days in detention in 2014-16 and was given an eight-year
prison sentence for espionage before being deported. Garratt's detention
was seen as a tit-for-tat response to Canada's arrest of Chinese spy who
was eventually extradited to the U.S. Spavor is a fluent Korean speaker
with longstanding ties to North Korea through his company, Paektu Cultural
Exchange. He was instrumental in bringing NBA player Dennis Rodman to Pyongyang
in 2013 and has organized a number of tours and joint cultural projects
with the North since then. Acquaintances said he was due in Seoul, the
South Korean capital, on Monday, but never showed up."

How about that?

"At the root of the dispute
is Canada's arrest of Meng while on a layover at Vancouver airport. The
U.S. accuses Huawei of using a Hong Kong shell company to do business with
Iran in violation of U.S. sanctions."

See! LOL.
American jurisdiction extends across the universe. -- At least, according
to the Department of 'Justice.'

"The editor in chief of
the Global Times, a Communist Party-run tabloid known for its provocative
views, warned in a video Wednesday night of "retaliatory measures" if Canada
doesn't free Meng. "If Canada extradites Meng to the U.S., China's revenge
will be far worse than detaining a Canadian," Hu Xijin said, speaking in
English."

Think so?

"Canada has asked China
for extra security at its embassy because of protests and anti-Canadian
sentiment and has advised foreign service staff to take precautions, a
senior Canadian official told reporters."

Doesn't sound good, does
it? Chinese are certainly not happy campers.

"The United States and
China have taken pains to emphasize that ongoing trade talks are separate
from the U.S. case against Meng. But with a few words, President Donald
Trump obliterated the distinction Tuesday, saying he'd wade into the case
if it would help produce a trade agreement with China. "If I think it's
good for what will be certainly the largest trade deal ever made — which
is a very important thing — what's good for national security — I would
certainly intervene if I thought it was necessary," Trump told Reuters
in an interview. The comment suggests Meng could be a political pawn in
negotiations and makes things more awkward for Canada. Canadian Prime Minister
Justin Trudeau bristled at Trump's assertion, saying: "Regardless of what
goes on in other countries, Canada is, and will always remain, a country
of the rule of law."

Think it's not goose stepping
in unison with its southern neighbor?

"Foreign Minister Chrystia
Freeland said it was "quite obvious" any foreign country requesting extradition
should ensure "the process is not politicized."

Too late for that.
Forget? Get this:

"There is precedent for
Trump intervening on behalf of a Chinese company accused of violating U.S.
sanctions. Trump drew fire from Capitol Hill in June when he reached a
deal that spared another Chinese telecommunications company, ZTE, from
U.S. sanctions that probably would have put it out of business after it
was accused of selling equipment to Iran and North Korea. U.S. regulators
planned to bar it from receiving U.S. components that it depended on, effectively
a corporate death sentence. But Trump issued a reprieve, perhaps partly
because U.S. tech companies, major suppliers to ZTE, would also have been
scorched. ZTE agreed to pay a $1 billion fine, change its board and management,
and let American regulators monitor its operations."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

A bi-partisan Congress
finally did the right thing. Stood tall. Can we stand it?
LOL. The Washington Post reports:

"The House overwhelmingly
approved a resolution Thursday to label the deadly persecution of a Muslim
minority group in Myanmar by the country’s military a “genocide,” in sharp
contrast to President Trump’s public silence on the matter."

Finally, stood up to the
lunatic nazi in the Oval Office. Overwhelmingly:

"The bill, approved by
a vote of 394 to 1, also calls on Myanmar’s government leaders, including
state counselor Aung San Suu Kyi, to pardon two Reuters journalists who
have been jailed for over a year for their coverage of the violence, which
resulted in more than 700,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing the country last
year. Though estimates vary, one independent report this year said more
than 43,000 Rohingya parents are missing and presumed to have been killed.

"The House resolution
said the violence against the Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine state last year
met the U.N. definition of genocide and called on Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo to make his own determination “based on available evidence.” The
United Nations issued its report in August saying military leaders in Myanmar,
also known as Burma, must face criminal prosecution on charges of genocide."

About time Congress finally
stood up. What took so long?

"The resolution also called
on Trump to impose additional economic sanctions on members of Myanmar’s
military and security forces responsible for human rights abuses, specifically
naming the military commander, Min Aung Hlaing. In all, 211 House Republicans
and 183 Democrats voted in support of the measure. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.)
was the only one who voted against it. “There’s a moral obligation obviously
here for Americans, for all of us — regardless of political party, regardless
of ideology — to stand up and say, ‘Enough. No genocide on our watch. This
has to end now,’” Rep. Edward R. Royce (R-Calif.), chairman of the House
Foreign Affairs Committee, said in an interview on Voice of America this
week."

Indeed. What
took so long?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Senate finally stands
up to the Trump nazi. The Washington Post reports:

"BREAKING: Senate votes
unanimously to condemn Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman as responsible
for killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Minutes earlier, the Senate
voted, 57-38, to end U.S. military involvement in Yemen as lawmakers continue
to express outrage and frustration with the president’s refusal to condemn
Mohammed for Khashoggi’s death despite the CIA’s finding that the crown
prince likely is responsible.

"As the Senate prepares
to deliver a historic, bipartisan rebuke of the United States’ continued
support for Saudi Arabia’s war effort in Yemen, House lawmakers remain
bitterly divided along party lines about whether to challenge President
Trump’s continued support for the Kingdom, even in the face of evidence
implicating its crown prince in the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.
House lawmakers emerged from a closed-door briefing with Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo and Defense Secretary Jim Mattis Thursday urging very different
responses to Saudi Arabia and its crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman, whom
a recent CIA assessment found was probably responsible for the killing
of Khashoggi, a Washington Post contributing columnist, in a Saudi consulate
in Istanbul. “They have to be held responsible,” Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.),
the incoming chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said after
the briefing, referring to Mohammed and Saudi King Salman. On Yemen, Engel
added that while the Saudis were right to worry about the growing influence
of Houthi rebels aligned with Iran, “we cannot use it as an excuse to just
say ‘whatever the Saudi government is doing is okay because we’re fighting
for the greater cause.’”

No end to the idiocy,
however:

"But there remain Republicans
in the House who defend the crown prince — and those who think that even
if he should be called out for his involvement in Khashoggi’s death, the
punishment should stop there. “We recognize killing journalists is absolutely
evil and despicable, but to completely realign our interests in the Middle
East as a result of this, when for instance the Russians kill journalists...Turkey
imprisons journalists?” Rep. Adam Kinzinger (R-Ill.) said. “It’s not a
sinless world out there.”

To this GOP nazi and others
who think like him, the ends justify the means. Republicans have
clearly lost themselves.

"That stands in sharp
contrast to the Senate, where several Republicans have been encouraging
a broad response to Saudi Arabia over not just Khashoggi’s killing and
the Yemen war, but the Kingdom’s blockade in Qatar, its recent detainment
of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, and a slate of human rights abuses
they say have compromised the U.S.-Saudi alliance. The Senate is likely
on Thursday [12-13-18]
to pass a resolution seeking to invoke the War Powers Resolution to curtail
U.S. support for the Saudi-led military campaign in Yemen. Sixty senators
voted on Wednesday to debate the resolution — a showing that suggests that
even if the effort fails to pass both chambers of Congress, senators are
building momentum to challenge Saudi Arabia and Trump’s support for it
that will continue into next year."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"Vice President Mike Pence
announced the revival of the U.S. Space Command, saying on Tuesday that
it will oversee more than 18,000 military and civilian personnel who currently
work "in space operations for our national security." America's military
operations in space are now back under a single unified command, as the
Trump administration revived the once-retired U.S. Space Command on Tuesday.
Vice President Mike Pence outlined the plan during his visit to the Kennedy
Space Center on Tuesday. "Today, there are more than 18,000 military and
civilian personnel working in space operations for our national security,
all across the Department of Defense," Pence said."

"The vice president added
that under President Trump's order, Space Command will "integrate space
capabilities across all branches of the military; it will develop the space
doctrine, tactics, techniques and procedures that will enable our warfighters
to defend our nation in this new era." "A new era of American national
security in space begins today," Pence said."

Jesus Christ. What
a waste of money. Think pockets aren't being lined?

"As Pence began his remarks
in Florida, the White House made the move official by releasing a memo
from President Trump to Defense Secretary Jim Mattis, directing him to
establish the Space Command. The same entity was first created in 1985,
but it was merged into Strategic Command in 2002."

Trump remains a lunatic.

Cowardly fail to financially
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rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Think the following a
step in the right direction? Or, more of the same. CBS News
reports:

"The Trump administration
unveiled a new Africa strategy based on "America First" principles, focused
on enhancing trade ties, combating terrorism and cutting back on aid programs
the administration deems inefficient."

Think the latter nothing
more than a smokescreen to justify cut off of aid to a continent that desperately
needs help? Especially, since the United States intends to continue
interfering in African affairs.

"Ambassador John Bolton,
the President's national security adviser, unveiled the strategy in remarks
delivered at the Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank in Washington,
D.C."

The Heritage Foundation
is no more than a group of national socialist elitists who are no more
than fascists in reality.

"Under our new Africa
strategy, we will target U.S. funding toward key countries and particular
strategic objectives," Bolton said. "We will make certain that all aid
to the region—whether for security, humanitarian, or development needs—advances
U.S. interests," Bolton said."

Translation?
Intend to continue to interfere in African affairs while cutting off as
much aid as possible. In other words, f--k 'em on the cheap.
... Right, Johnny boy? The American Way.

"Currently, the U.S. sends
more than $8 billion annually to African countries, though Bolton, citing
a "longstanding pattern of aid without effect," indicated that amount may
soon be slashed."

"Unfortunately, billions
upon billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars have not achieved the desired effects,"
he said. "They have not stopped the scourge of terrorism, radicalism and
violence."

More goddamned disingenuous
horse shit coming from this clueless, haughtily ignorant, unabashed fascist.
Wake
up, Johnny boy. Conveniently, forget? Purpose of aid is
to feed, clothe, provide for those in need. Especially, since our
country egregiously contributed to ongoing current problems in Africa that
were certainly exacerbated by slavery here in the United States
all those years.

"Despite indications the
strategy will ultimately involve a drawdown in overall U.S. funding, Bolton
said the strategy has been designed to counter financial and political
influence from China and Russia, which he said employ "predatory practices"
to stunt economic growth and interfere with American military and security
interests on the continent. "China uses bribes, opaque agreements and the
use of strategic use of debt to hold states in Africa captive to Beijing's
wishes and demands," Bolton said. "Its investment ventures are riddled
with corruption." Russia, too, he said, seeks to increase its influence
in the region through "corrupt economic dealings."

We don't?
Give me a break. Only reason why Russia and China are in Africa is
because we're there. Putting our noses where they don't belong.
As we do all across the globe. To line the pockets of the war profiteering
corporate management suite who in turn line the pockets of their bought
and paid for government lackeys. Never ends. Reap what we sow.
Then, haughtily piss and moan when others don't do our bidding, won't goose
step along.

"China surpassed the U.S.
as Africa's largest trading partner in 2009. In September, at a triennial
forum for Chinese and African leaders, China's president, Xi Jinping, announced
a $60 billion aid and loan package that he claimed came with "no political
conditions."

There's an economic reason
for this. Cheap products. Off the backs of the Chinese
workforce. Just like right here in the United States. Bottom
and middle class take it hard in the ass so the top of the food chain remains
top of the food chain. Two diametrically opposed political extremes,
same end result. Zero-sum, winner-take-all. Orchestrated f--king.

"In subsequent remarks
to reporters, Bolton said China's so-called "debt diplomacy," which begins
with attractively financed projects before becoming mired in "onerous"
terms and conditions, amounts to a "bait and switch" tactic of which developing
countries have grown increasingly wary."

We don't do the same overseas?
To say nothing of right here, domestically. Yet, you nazis in the
Republican Party refuse to rein in your corporate masters. Democrats?
Out to lunch since November 22, 1963, Kennedy assassination.

"Bolton also sharply criticized
U.N. peacekeeping missions in the region, saying the U.S. would "no longer
provide indiscriminate assistance across the entire continent, without
focus or prioritization." "Our objective is to resolve conflicts, not freeze
them in perpetuity," he said."

"Africa's incredibly important
to the United States," he said. "The competition posed by China and Russia,
among others, should highlight it for us."

They're there, because
we're there forcing our will, views, and ideology on others. Why
wouldn't they do precisely the same?

Cowardly fail to financially
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rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
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12-21-18

Think Trump's not only
hopelessly delusional, but increasingly desperate? The Washington
Post reports:

"President Trump claimed
Thursday that “money we save” from a new trade deal with Mexico and Canada
would make good on his long-standing promise to have Mexico pay for a new
southern border wall. Trump’s highly questionable assertion, in a morning
tweet, comes as he is lobbying Congress for $5 billion to help fund construction
of the wall and threatening a partial government shutdown if he does not
get his way. In recent days, as the debate over the wall has come to the
fore, Trump has faced renewed criticism for appearing to have abandoned
his campaign pledge to make Mexico pay for it.

"I
often stated, “One way or the other, Mexico is going to pay for the Wall.”
This has never changed. Our new deal with Mexico (and Canada), the USMCA,
is so much better than the old, very costly & anti-USA NAFTA deal,
that just by the money we save, MEXICO IS PAYING FOR THE WALL! —
Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2018

"Mexican officials have
said there was no discussion in the trade-deal negotiations of mechanisms
under which Mexico would pay for the wall."

They're not going to.

"And on Thursday, both
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Senate Minority Leader
Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) ridiculed Trump for his assertion. “It doesn’t
make any sense,” Pelosi told reporters at a news conference. “Maybe he
doesn’t understand how a trade agreement works. ... I think the Oval Office
is an evidence-free zone.” Pelosi, who is likely to become House speaker
in January, also pointed out that Congress has yet to ratify Trump’s new
trade deal. Schumer, meanwhile, suggested on the Senate floor Thursday
that if Mexico is truly funding the wall, Congress does not need to spend
any money on it. “Mr. President, if you say Mexico is going to pay for
the wall through NAFTA — which it certainly won’t — then I guess we don’t
have to,” Schumer said. “Let’s fund the government. Honestly. If the president
really believed what he tweeted this morning, that his new NAFTA would
pay for the wall, he wouldn’t be threatening to shut down the government
unless American taxpayers fund his wall. You can’t have it both ways.”

Can't confuse an idiot
with the truth.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

More of the same.
Another Trump henchman resigns in disgrace. The Washington Post
reports:

"Interior Department Secretary
Ryan Zinke submitted his resignation to the White House Saturday, after
facing intense pressure to step down because of multiple probes tied to
his real estate dealings in Montana and conduct while in office.

"While the former Navy
SEAL and Montana congressman worked aggressively to promote Trump’s agenda
of expanding domestic energy production, administration officials concluded
weeks ago that he ranked as the Cabinet member most vulnerable to congressional
investigations once Democrats took control of Congress in January. During
his nearly two years in office Zinke came under at least 15 investigations,
including inquiries into his connection to a real estate deal involving
a company that Interior regulates, whether he bent government rules to
allow his wife to ride in government vehicles and allowing a security detail
to travel with him on a vacation to Turkey at considerable cost."

Delusionally believe Zinke
isn't an Aryan arrogant nazi? Get this:

"Zinke was cleared in
several of those investigations, and chose to attack his critics rather
adopt a more chastened tone. Late last month he accused Rep. Raúl
M. Grijalva (D-Ariz.) — who had called on Zinke to step down and is poised
to take over the committee that oversees Interior in January — of being
a drunk. “It’s hard for him to think straight from the bottom of the bottle,”
Zinke wrote from his official Twitter account on Nov. 30."

Cowardly fail to financially
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rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
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12-21-18

Yet another trash appointment
by the Trump nazi. NPR reports:

"President Trump said
Friday evening that Mick Mulvaney, his director of the Office of Management
and Budget, will be the acting White House chief of staff. It's unclear
how long Mulvaney will serve in the role, succeeding outgoing chief of
staff John Kelly. Trump announced on Dec. 8 that Kelly would leave at the
end of the year.

"When asked why Mulvaney
was named as "acting" rather than the permanent chief of staff, the official
responded, "Because that's what the president wants."

"Mulvaney has served multiple
roles in the Trump administration. In addition to leading OMB, he also
became the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
Mulvaney's replacement at the CFPB was confirmed last week. The White House
clarified Friday night that Mulvaney will not resign from OMB. Spokeswoman
Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement that Mulvaney "will spend all
of his time devoted to his role as the acting Chief Of Staff for the President."
OMB Deputy Director Russell Vought will "handle day to day operations and
run OMB."

Will the son of a bitch
be collecting multiple salaries off the taxpayer tit?

Cowardly fail to financially
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rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
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12-21-18

The pressure must have
been enormous. NPR reports:

"The Education Department
plans to erase debt for thousands of teachers whose TEACH grants were converted
to loans, after an almost year-long NPR investigation into the troubled
federal program. For nearly 10 years, the TEACH grant has helped cover
tuition for teachers-in-training — as long as they agree to teach a high-need
subject, like science or math, at a school that serves low-income families.
But a report by the Education Department published earlier this year showed
that nearly 12,000 educators in the program never got that money. These
grants were turned to loans, with interest, due to small mistakes on the
paperwork teachers filled out each year to prove that they fulfilled their
end of the bargain. Now these teachers are given a second chance. As long
as they meet the major requirements of the program and provide proof, the
Department will likely convert the loans back to grants and refund any
past payments."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Another 'judge' perversely
legislating his ideological views from the bench. NPR reports:

"A federal judge in Texas
issued a ruling Friday declaring the Affordable Care Act unconstitutional,
apparently setting the stage for another hearing on the health care law
by the U.S. Supreme Court. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Reed O'Connor
invalidates what's commonly referred to as Obamacare nationwide, and casts
into doubt the survival of the law on the eve of the deadline for tens
of millions of Americans to sign up for health care coverage in 2019. The
ruling comes in a lawsuit brought against what was one of the major domestic
achievements of the Obama administration. An alliance of 19 Republican
attorneys general and a governor led by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
challenged the law. As NPR's Alison Kodjak explained on All Things Considered,
"The lawsuit had to do with whether when Congress last year repealed or
eliminated the penalty for not having insurance — it was a tax penalty
for people who didn't have insurance — whether that meant the rest of the
law didn't apply anymore. The court case argued that all of the pieces
of the law were dependent upon each other, so by eliminating the penalty
the rest of the law fell apart. The judge agreed with that opinion."

Bought and paid
for by Republican national socialists, fascists, nazis. So what else
is new? LOL. Nothing changes, however, until all appeals are
exhausted.

"California Attorney General
Xavier Becerra, who led the coalition of states that defended the ACA promised
to continue the court fight to preserve the law."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

More of the same.
Why is our military fighting all over the globe with no declaration of
war as required by the United States Constitution? NPR reports:

"The U.S. military says
it hit the al-Shabab extremist group with six airstrikes over the weekend,
killing 62 militants in an operation that targeted a camp in southern Somalia.
No civilians were harmed, according to the U.S. U.S. Africa Command
says the "precision airstrikes" were conducted in close collaboration with
Somalia's government. Four strikes near the town of Gandarshe on Saturday
killed a total of 34 militants, and two strikes on Sunday killed 28, the
U.S. says."

By what authority?
Why no declaration of war after so many years of fighting?

"The U.S. has been bombing
the country for about a decade, but this year, there has been a big increase
in airstrikes," Peralta says. "With this bombing run, the U.S. has killed
more than 300 militants in Somalia this year." Peralta adds that the weekend
strikes comes at a time of political crisis for the central government
in Somalia. "Riots have broken out after a popular former al-Shabab leader
was arrested," he says, "and the states are threatening a revolt against
the federal government." Amid that backdrop, U.S. Africa Command is working
to help the process of transferring long-term security responsibilities
to the government from the African Union Mission in Somalia (AMISOM) —
a peacekeeping mission that's been running since 2007."

Time to get the hell out
of there. ... Or, declare war. Why do we continue to line the
pockets of corporate war profiteers?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Dose of reality in a world
of fantasy? Time to remove the punch bowl? The Washington
Post reports:

"Jerome H. Powell, chair
of the Federal Reserve and one of the world’s top economic leaders, has
spent much of 2018 telling people that the U.S. economy is strong and almost
“too good to be true.” But last week, he stressed a different message —
not everyone has been lifted by faster growth."

You think?
Economy is now zero-sum, winner-take-all. Has been for years.

“The benefits of this
strong economy and sound financial system have not reached all Americans,”
Powell said in Dec. 3 speech. “The aggregate statistics tend to mask important
disparities by income, race and geography.” He repeated that message in
a Dec. 6 speech. “While the economy is strong overall, we recognize that
some communities have yet to feel the full benefits of the ongoing expansion,”
he said."

Strong for the top of
the food chain. At expense of the bottom and quickly vanishing middle
class. ... How unwanted dreaded revolutions are spawned.

"The reality is that in
a year when unemployment hit the lowest level in almost 50 years, with
inflation staying low and growth popping after the tax cuts, a surprising
number of red flags remain in the economy, especially compared with the
last period of strong economic growth, in 1999-2000. It’s a reminder, many
experts say, that the U.S. economy has deep structural problems that are
far from being cured."

No question. While
inflation may not be an issue for the top of the food chain, certainly
is for the bottom and middle class which have seen significant rises in
food prices, cost of health care, other staple items, goods and services,
etc.. Clearly, the hopelessly avaricious bastards in the corporate
management suite are doing all they can to suck every last drop of blood
from the bottom and middle class. Never get enough.

"Four in 10 adults still
say they don’t have enough savings to cover a $400 emergency expense, according
to the latest Federal Reserve report on the economic well-being of Americans.
While that is an improvement over 2013, when half of Americans said they
could not cover a $400 expense, it remains elevated at a time when unemployment
is so low and wages are rising."

Where? For whom?
Top of the food chain? Certainly, not sharing the wealth.

"A substantial number
of Americans — 45 percent — still rate the current economy as “only fair”
or “poor,” according to a Gallup poll in November. Though that is better
than in recent years, it is still far higher than November 2000, when only
29 percent of Americans gave the economy a poor grade. Despite the abundance
of “We’re hiring!” signs across the country, an alarming number of men
in their prime working years are not employed or looking for work. The
labor force participation rate for men ages 25 to 54 is 89 percent, which
is below the pre-recession level (90.6 percent in November 2007) and well
below what the rate was in 2000, when nearly 92 percent of men of prime
age had jobs or were actively searching for work. In another telling sign,
the number of dollar stores has surged from 20,000 to 30,000 locations
since 2011, according to a report by Marie Donahue and Stacy Mitchell of
the Institute for Local Self-Reliance. These stores are growing rapidly
in urban black neighborhoods and rural America, Donahue and Mitchell found,
two parts of the country whose residents are starting to look like a “permanent
underclass."

"About 4.8 million Americans
who want full-time employment are stuck in part-time jobs, according to
the Labor Department. That is still above the pre-recession level and,
even more alarming, has jumped by 423,000 since August. Wages in several
key sectors of the economy are also lagging behind, even at a time when
employers say they can’t find enough people to hire and are offering more
money. Average weekly pay, adjusted for inflation, fell slightly in the
past year for transportation jobs and administrative and support jobs,
according to Labor Department data. Average weekly wages in the hotel and
food industries barely grew once inflation is factored in. These are some
of the most common jobs for working-class Americans, who do not have college
degrees and make about $30,000 to $69,000 for a household of three."

Precisely, why the bottom
is foundering, middle class quickly vanishing. Portend of far worse
to come if we continue to fail to wake up.

Think the following isn't
not only dangerous, but achingly appalling?

"Suicide rates are so
high that life expectancy is declining in the United States. On average,
129 suicides occur a day, according to the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention, and the suicide rate continues to climb, especially among
middle-aged men. In every state but Nevada, suicide rates have increased
since 1999. Most of these problems are structural, not cyclical, and will
not be reversed easily. Many of these issues emerged shortly after 2000,
although they accelerated downward during the Great Recession. They are
unlikely to be cured by faster growth alone, especially if that stronger
growth lasts only for a year or two, as many economists now expect, and
then retreats to around 2 percent annual growth in 2020 — or even into
a recession."

Cowardly fail to financially
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rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Further evidence of the
hopeless aggressive stupidity of the corporate community. NPR reports:

"Isela was denied life
insurance because her medication list showed a prescription for the opioid-reversal
drug naloxone. The Boston Medical Center nurse says she wants to have the
drug on hand so she can save others.

"She contacted her insurance
agent and was told her application was denied because something on her
medication list indicated that Isela uses drugs. Isela, a registered nurse
who works in an addiction treatment program at Boston Medical Center, scanned
her med list. It showed a prescription for the opioid-reversal drug naloxone
— brand name Narcan. "But I'm a nurse, I use it to help people," Isela
remembers telling her agent. "If there is an overdose, I could save their
life." That's a message public health leaders aim to spread far and wide.
"BE PREPARED. GET NALOXONE. SAVE A LIFE," was the message at the top of
a summary advisory from the U.S. surgeon general in April.

"But some life insurers
consider the use of prescription drugs when reviewing policy applicants.
And it can be difficult, some say, to tell the difference between someone
who carries naloxone to save others and someone who carries naloxone because
they are at risk for an overdose. "My biggest concern is that people will
be discouraged by this from going to get a naloxone rescue kit at the pharmacy."
Primerica is the insurer Isela says turned her down. (NPR has agreed to
use just Isela's first name because she is worried about how this story
might affect her ongoing ability to get life insurance.) The company says
it can't discuss individual cases. But in a prepared statement, Primerica
notes that naloxone has become increasingly available over the counter.
"Now, if a life insurance applicant has a prescription for naloxone, we
request more information about its intended use as part of our underwriting
process," says Keith Hancock, the vice president for corporate communications.
"Primerica is supportive of efforts to help turn the tide on the national
opioid epidemic."

Think so?

Gets more convoluted:

"After Primerica turned
her down, Isela applied to a second life insurer and was again denied coverage.
But the second company told her it might reconsider if she obtained a letter
from her doctor explaining why she needs naloxone. So, Isela did contact
her primary care physician — and then realized that her doctor had not
prescribed the drug. Isela had bought naloxone at a pharmacy. To help reduce
overdose deaths, Massachusetts and many other states have established a
standing order for naloxone — one prescription that works for everybody.
Isela couldn't just give her insurer that statewide prescription; she had
to find the doctor who signed it. As it happens, that physician — Dr. Alex
Walley — also works at Boston Medical Center.

"We want naloxone to be
available to a wide group of people — people who have an opioid use disorder
themselves, but also [those in] their social networks and other people
in a position to rescue them," Walley says. He says he's written a half
dozen letters for other BMC employees denied life or disability insurance
because of naloxone, and that troubles him. "My biggest concern is that
people will be discouraged by this from going to get a naloxone rescue
kit at the pharmacy," Walley says. "So this has been frustrating."

"Isela says the second
company that rejected her has agreed to let her reapply, in light of Walley's
letter stating that she carries the drug so that she can reverse an overdose.
Isela is in the process of reapplying."

Why should anyone have
to go through this hassle? This lifesaving drug needs to be easily
available and ubiquitous. F--k the insurance industry. Serve
only themselves. To line their pockets and those of shareholders.
Unbridled greed.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Facebook continues its
assault on privacy. NPR reports:

"Facebook employees talk
to visitors at a one-day Facebook pop-up kiosk in Bryant Park in New York
City on Thursday. The company was fielding questions about its data-sharing
practices and teaching users how to understand its new privacy controls.
The next day, Facebook announced that a "bug" that had inappropriately
shared users' private data — this time, their photos.

"Up to 6.8 million users
may have been affected, Facebook says. The "bug" affects users who gave
permission to a third-party app to access their Facebook photos. Normally,
that would only include photos that someone actually posted to their timeline.
But between Sept. 13 and Sept. 25, other photos were available, as well:
Photos that a user posted to Marketplace, Facebook's platform for selling
or buying goods. Photos posted to Stories, the platform for sharing images
that disappear after 24 hours."

CBS News reports:

"Facebook gave some of
the tech industry's biggest companies greater access to users' personal
data than the social-networking company previously disclosed, The New York
Times reported Tuesday. Special arrangements detailed in internal Facebook
documents gave Microsoft's Bing search engine access to the names of all
Facebook users' friends without consent and allowed Netflix and Spotify
to read Facebook users' private messages, the Times reported. Other arrangements
allowed Amazon to obtain users' names and contact information through their
friends and permitted Yahoo to view streams of friends' posts as recently
as this summer, the Times reported, despite Facebook's statements that
it had ended that type of data sharing. Facebook has been under scrutiny
since the revelation in March that consultancy Cambridge Analytica had
misused Facebook user data in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential
election. Since then, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has testified in front
of Congress and the European Parliament to answer questions about Facebook's
handling of user data."

Never ends:

"The company has also
been in the hot seat for not doing enough to prevent abuse from Russian
trolls that posted misinformation and divisive content on the platform.
The Russian activity was part of a coordinated campaign to interfere with
the U.S. presidential election by sowing discord among voters. Facebook
acknowledged in July it entered into data-sharing agreements with dozens
of tech companies, admitting it continued sharing information with 61 hardware
and software makers even after it said it had discontinued the practice
in May 2015. The data-sharing agreements were intended to integrate the
"Facebook experience" with mobile devices, something a Facebook representative
at the time called a "standard industry practice." The Times reported Tuesday
that the records show Facebook had arrangements with more than 150 companies
-- mostly in the tech industry but also in the automotive and media industries
-- to provide access to the data of hundreds of millions of people each
month. The deals were all active in 2017, and some were still in effect
this year, the Times reported."

Report goes on and on.
They're f--king users. Wake up.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

Think anyone's worth a
$120 million severance package? NPR reports:

"CBS announced on Monday
it will not pay out a controversial $120 million severance package to former
CEO Leslie Moonves. The company said it had ample reason to fire the disgraced
executive for cause. Disgraced former CBS CEO Les Moonves, who's been accused
of sexual harassment and assault, has been denied the controversial $120
million severance package contained in his contract, the network's board
of directors announced on Monday."

This guy is a piece of
work. Why hasn't he been prosecuted?

"The decision follows
an investigation by two law firms into the allegations against Moonves
which culminated in a graphic report that concluded that the company had
ample of reasons to fire the television executive for cause, subsequently
paving the way for it to withhold the whopping payout. "With regard to
Mr. Moonves, we have determined that there are grounds to terminate for
cause, including his willful and material misfeasance, violation of Company
policies and breach of his employment contract, as well as his willful
failure to cooperate fully with the Company's investigation," the statement
said."

Clincher? Get this:

"The board said harassment
and retaliation are not pervasive at CBS, but the company has not placed
a "high institutional priority" on preventing it."

Jesus Christ. They're
out to lunch.

"Moonves was forced to
step down in September, following a New Yorker story in which a dozen women
came forward claiming he had sexually harassed or assaulted them. That
story came nearly a year after the #MeToo movement began to gain traction
in the entertainment industry."

Time to wake up.
This behavior is intolerable.

"Among the CBS report's
damning findings, according to The New York Times, which received a leaked
copy, is that Moonves "destroyed evidence and misled investigators in an
attempt to preserve his reputation and save a lucrative severance deal."
The report also included several previously undisclosed allegations of
sexual misconduct. Additionally, as The Times' Rachel Abrams, told NPR's
All Things Considered: "The lawyer said that they investigated 11 of the
17 women who they knew of who had made accusations against Mr. Moonves.
And they make a point multiple times in their report to say that they found
the women credible. And by contrast - if I could just read you what they
wrote about Mr. Moonves - they said they found him to be evasive and untruthful
at times and to have deliberately lied about and minimized the extent of
his sexual misconduct. And the lawyers also wrote that Mr. Moonves engaged
in multiple acts of serious, nonconsensual sexual misconduct in and outside
of the workplace both before and after he came to CBS in 1995."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-21-18

The following, while exceptionally
un-American, comes as no surprise under Trump's Fourth Reich. The
Washington Post reports:

"Bahia Amawi, a speech
pathologist who has worked as a contractor in a Texas school district for
nine years, received a new contract agreement to sign in September for
the upcoming school year. The agreement asked her to affirm that she did
not boycott Israel and assert that she would not while working for the
school."

What the hell business
is it of the school district?

"She declined to sign
it. Amawi, an American citizen of Palestinian descent who was born in Austria,
said the statements infringed on her principles: her stance on Israel’s
treatment of Palestinians and her belief in the First Amendment. So she
was forced to stop working with the district. The contract, which stems
from a 2017 law passed by the state’s Republican-held legislature and governor
that prohibited state agencies from contracting with companies boycotting
Israel, is the subject of a lawsuit filed this week by Amawi in federal
district court in Austin."

Sue the living shit
out of the nazi f--kers. Take them for all you can get.

"Amawi says the state’s
enforcement of the law violates her right to free speech."

Indeed. It does.
Outrageous abrogation of the First Amendment.

“My first reaction was
shock,” Amawi told reporters Monday. “Why is the government restricting
me from boycotting a certain entity?” Amawi started working for the Pflugerville
Independent School District outside Austin in 2009. Her work entails doing
evaluations of Arabic-speaking children, according to the complaint she
filed. Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and the school district are named
in the lawsuit."

Here's what's remarkably
interesting. Get this:

"In a statement posted
on Facebook, the district said it was bound by the recently passed Texas
state law, which it cast in a negative light. “This language is required
by the State of Texas for all school districts in Texas, along with other
governmental entities,” the statement said. “Unfortunately, Pflugerville
ISD and all Texas school districts are at the mercy of the state and the
regulations printed into law, and in situations such as this, we are forced
to spend time on state political issues and not on our core mission — educating
students." Texas passed the law in 2017, part of a wave of states that
have passed legislation requiring that state agencies not do business with
companies that support the “BDS movement” (for Boycott, Divestment and
Sanctions) to boycott Israeli goods."

It's none of the state's
goddamned business.

Gets worse. Get
this:

"The bill’s language has
been interpreted so broadly that the application for some grants for victims
of Hurricane Harvey included a similar provision, drawing rebukes from
local officials and the American Civil Liberties Union. It is not clear
whether other states' laws have been written or interpreted in a way to
include contractors such as Amawi. “Texas’ ban on contracting with any
boycotter of Israel constitutes viewpoint discrimination that chills constitutionally-protected
political advocacy in support of Palestine,” Amawi’s complaint states.
Fred O. Smith, a constitutional law expert at Emory University, cited two
Supreme Court precedents: a 1996 case that found that it was unconstitutional
for government officials to retaliate against independent contractors for
their speech, as well as 1976 ruling, Elrod v. Burns, that found it unconstitutional
for governments to refuse to hire people for their political views, in
most circumstances. “These principles taken together strongly suggest that
refusing to renew a contract of someone who wishes to advocate a political
position raises very serious constitutional concerns under those Supreme
Court precedents,” Smith said."

"Texas Gov. Greg Abbott
(R) tweeted his support for Israel on Monday as news of Amawi’s lawsuit
began to circulate. “Texas stands with Israel,” he wrote. “Period.”

The hell it does, Governor.
You don't speak for all of us, Mr. Abbott. Readers are reminded this
piece of shit ignored repeated complaints against Wells Fargo made by this
writer when Abbott was Texas Attorney General. Clearly, the Governor
is far more interested in lining the pockets of his cronies in the corporate
management suite than in doing the right thing. That is, prosecuting
white-collar criminals. Holding the greedy bastards accountable for
their crimes.

Not everyone is in goose
step with our national socialist Governor:

"Glenn Greenwald, a columnist
and co-founding editor of the Intercept who writes frequently about Israeli
politics as they intersect with those of the United States, wrote harshly
of the contract.“ The language of the affirmation Amawi was told
she must sign reads like Orwellian — or McCarthyite — self-parody, the
classic political loyalty oath that every American should instinctively
shudder upon reading,” he wrote. “In order to continue to work, Amawi would
be perfectly free to engage in any political activism against her own country,
participate in an economic boycott of any state or city within the U.S.,
or work against the policies of any other government in the world — except
Israel.”

"Amawi said that she made
the decision for her own values, but also to serve as an example for her
four children, telling the Intercept that she did not consider signing
the pledge in order to keep her work. “I couldn’t in good conscience do
that,” she said. “If I did, I would not only be betraying Palestinians
suffering under an occupation that I believe is unjust and thus become
complicit in their repression, but I’d also be betraying my fellow Americans
by enabling violations of our constitutional rights to free speech and
to protest peacefully.” Amawi’s lawsuit says she’s seeking an injunction
that will strike the “No boycott of Israel” clause from school contracts,
as well as others statewide, and pay her “reasonable costs” and attorney’s
fees. “The point of boycotting any products that support Israel is to put
pressure on Israeli government to change its treatment, the inhumane treatment
of the Palestinian people,” she told the Intercept."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-14-18

Highly reminiscent
of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors,
Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black
who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they
please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.
It's appalling. Runs against the grain of everything our formerly
great country once stood for. No longer.

Some semblance of justice.
NPR reports:

"James Alex Fields Jr.,
who rammed his car into a crowd of counterprotesters during a white supremacist
rally in Charlottesville, Va., last year was found guilty on Friday of
killing Heather Heyer and injuring dozens of others. The jury deliberated
for several hours before convicting Fields, 21, of first degree murder,
along with several counts of aggravated malicious wounding, malicious wounding
and leaving the scene of an accident. Over the course of the trial prosecutor
Nina-Alice Antony depicted Fields as an angry white nationalist who acted
with hate and violence on Aug. 12, 2017 when he sped into unsuspecting
counterdemonstrators after the Unite the Right rally was shut down by authorities.
Antony reminded the jury of a meme Fields posted three months earlier on
Instagram. That post showed flailing bodies — labeled "protesters" — being
tossed into the air after a car plows into a crowd, the Associated Press
reported."

NPR reports:

"On Tuesday, jurors sentenced
James Alex Fields Jr. to 419 years plus life and roughly half a million
dollars in fines. A judge will hold a separate hearing on March 29. The
21-year-old avowed neo-Nazi who murdered a woman when he plowed his car
into a crowd of counterprotesters last year at a white nationalist rally
in Charlottesville, Va., will likely spend the rest of his life in prison.
A jury in Charlottesville said Tuesday that James Alex Fields Jr. should
be sentenced to life plus 419 years in prison and $480,000 in fines, for
killing Heather Heyer and seriously injuring 35 others. Judge Richard Moore
will decide whether to sign off on the recommended sentence at a hearing
on March 29."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-14-18

Highly reminiscent
of our outrageously bought and paid for judiciary, Llano County prosecutors,
Sheriff Bill Blackburn and his criminal SS jackbooted bastards in black
who continue to egregiously disgrace themselves and the badge, do as they
please regardless of the law and Constitution, carefully consider the following.
It's appalling. Runs against the grain of everything our formerly
great country once stood for. No longer.

Delusionally believe the
traitorous jackbooted bastards in ICE can be trusted? UPI reports:

"Immigration and Customs
Enforcement officials have arrested 170 undocumented adults seeking to
sponsor migrant children in custody of the federal government, the agency
said Tuesday. Agents conducted background checks, including fingerprinting,
from early July to November on potential sponsors seeking to take in unaccompanied
migrant children under the care of the Department of Health and Human Services,
ICE said. Of those arrested, 109 did not have a criminal record, the agency
said. ICE didn't specify the crimes of the 61 arrested. Just under 80 percent
of people ICE screened during the sponsorship process weren't in the country
legally, the agency said. In September, 41 people who had similarly tried
to sponsor migrant children were arrested. Undocumented residents face
deportation if arrested."

Worst of the worst.
Treacherous, traitorous, treasonous pieces of human excrement unfit to
wear a badge.

"President Donald Trump
authorized immigration authorities to examine the criminal background and
legal status of anyone who wants to sponsor unaccompanied migrant children
-- usually parents or close relatives already in the United States -- and
any other adults living in their home."

Trump has no honor.
No principles. No heart. No soul. No more than an amoral
piece of human excrement unfit for office.

"Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif.,
who introduced a bill in the Senate to prohibit ICE from using information
in background checks to enforce immigration laws, posted on Twitter on
Tuesday: "A natural consequence of these arrests is that these children
have nowhere to go."

The amoral nazi in the
Oval Office couldn't care less.

Clearly, the duplicitous
pieces of human excrement in law enforcement cannot be trusted. ...
Right,
Sheriff?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-14-18

Noose figuratively tightens.
NPR reports:

"In a case that could
shed light on the finances of the secretive Trump Organization, a federal
judge has signed orders to issue 30 subpoenas on behalf of the attorneys
general of Maryland and the District of Columbia in their lawsuit alleging
that President Trump is profiting from foreign and state governments' spending
at the Trump International Hotel in downtown Washington, D.C. Trump owns
a stake in the hotel and profits from those sources would appear to violate
the Constitution's bans on gifts from foreign and state governments — as
D.C. Attorney General Karl Racine called them, "our nation's original anti-corruption
laws." Subpoenas are directed to 13 entities attached to President Trump,
ranging from several involved with the hotel; up to Trump's umbrella entity,
the Trump Organization; and the revocable trust that his lawyers created
to insulate him from issues like the emoluments lawsuit. Maryland Attorney
General Brian Frosh told NPR those subpoenas are aimed at establishing
"which foreign governments and which domestic governments are paying the
Trump Post Office hotel, then where's it going, and how is the Trump hotel
affecting the hospitality industry in D.C. and in Maryland." The lawsuit
is based on an argument that the hotel, with a presidential boost, is taking
business from other establishments. The Internal Revenue Service and four
other federal agencies will also get subpoenas. Frosh said the IRS would
likely have Trump Organization records showing "how much money they took
in, how much money they spent, if they identified the sources of the income."

Here's the problem:

"If it turns out that
now there are suggestions and maybe evidence presented there are people
who at least took advantage of the Trump Hotel in Washington to try to
curry favor, it's going to continue to stir a pot that the president would
surely wish were left unstirred," he said. Kettl said the case, if it goes
against Trump, could also bolster support for special counsel Robert Mueller's
investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. And while
it's unclear how many subpoenaed documents will become public, the plaintiffs'
approach in this case could provide a road map for investigative journalists
or oversight-minded House Democrats who will wield the majority in the
new Congress beginning next year. The Emoluments Clauses of the Constitution
have languished in legal obscurity for most of the past two centuries and
have never before been tested in court in this way. Justice Department
lawyers and private lawyers representing Trump have fought to derail the
lawsuit, so far without success. They did block an earlier emoluments case.
A third case, brought by some 200 congressional Democrats, is pending.
The Justice Department says it will appeal the latest ruling in the Maryland-D.C.
case to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals."

The Constitution is clear.
So is the Emoluments Clause. Trump clearly believes he's above the
law. In a democratic republic under the United States Constitution,
no
one is.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"Federal prosecutors filed
new court papers Friday directly implicating President Trump in plans to
buy women’s silence as far back as 2014 and offering new evidence of Russian
efforts to forge a political alliance with Trump before he became president
— disclosures that show the deepening political and legal morass enveloping
the administration. The separate filings came from special counsel Robert
S. Mueller III and federal prosecutors in New York ahead of Wednesday’s
sentencing of Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen. Taken together,
the documents suggest that the president’s legal woes are far from over
and reveal a previously unreported contact from a Russian to Trump’s inner
circle during the campaign. But the documents do not answer the central
question at the heart of Mueller’s work — whether the president or those
around him conspired with the Kremlin."

Think Trump's not soiling
his pants?

Cohen's certainly not
off the hook:

"The documents offer a
scathing portrait of his former lawyer as a criminal who deserves little
sympathy or mercy because he held back from telling the FBI everything
he knew. For that reason, prosecutors said, he should be sentenced to “substantial”
prison time, suggesting possibly 3½ years."

Further evidence of Trump's
insanity? Get this:

"Trump immediately declared
that he was vindicated. “Totally clears the president. Thank you!” he tweeted.
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the Cohen filings “tell us nothing
of value that wasn’t already known.”

Think so?

"The special counsel’s
office said Cohen had provided “useful information” about its ongoing probe
of Russian interference in the 2016 election, as well as “relevant information”
about his contacts with people connected to the White House between 2017
and 2018. Mueller revealed that Cohen told prosecutors about what seemed
to be a previously unknown November 2015 contact with a Russian national,
who claimed to be a “trusted person” in the Russian Federation offering
the campaign “political synergy” and “synergy on a government level.” Cohen
told investigators that the person, who was not identified, repeatedly
proposed a meeting between Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin,
saying that such a meeting could have a “phenomenal” impact, “not only
in political but in a business dimension as well,” the special counsel’s
office wrote. Cohen, though, did not follow up on the invitation, because
he was already working on a Trump project in Moscow through a different
person he believed to have Russian government connections, the special
counsel’s office wrote."

Just the tip of the iceberg
considering the amount of redaction. Apparently, Mueller is sitting
on far more.

Think the following isn't
a problem for Trump?

"Prosecutors also singled
out Trump as being directly involved in efforts to buy the silence of women
who might level public allegations against him. The memo from New York
prosecutors identifies three people at an August 2014 meeting: Cohen, “Individual
1” and “Chairman 1.” The document elsewhere identifies Individual 1 as
Trump, and people familiar with the case said Chairman 1 is David Pecker
of the National Enquirer. “In August 2014, Chairman-1 had met with Cohen
and Individual-1, and had offered to help deal with negative stories about
Individual-1’s relationships with women by identifying such stories so
that they could be purchased and ‘killed,’ ” the prosecutors’ memorandum
says. Cohen pleaded guilty in August to violating campaign finance law
when he arranged payments to an adult-film star during the 2016 election.
At the same time, he pleaded guilty to a handful of other crimes, including
making a false statement to a bank. In recent weeks, he pleaded guilty
to lying to Congress about efforts during the presidential campaign to
get a Trump-branded tower built in Moscow."

The following is particularly
interesting:

"Cohen had asked for a
sentence of no prison time, citing his cooperation with investigators.
Mueller’s office gave him some credit for his assistance, saying that while
his crime was “serious,” he had “taken significant steps to mitigate his
criminal conduct.” “He chose to accept responsibility for his false statements
and admit to his conduct in open court. He also has gone to significant
lengths to assist the Special Counsel’s investigation,” the office wrote."

Prosecutors in New York
didn't see it quite the same:

"New York prosecutors,
however, were far harsher in their assessment of Cohen’s character, saying
he should get only a modest reduction in an expected prison sentence of
about five years. In their 38-page filing, they suggest he should receive
about 3½ years in prison. “He seeks extraordinary leniency — a sentence
of no jail time — based principally on his rose-colored view of the seriousness
of the crimes; his claims to a sympathetic personal history; and his provision
of certain information to law enforcement,” prosecutors wrote in their
filing. “But the crimes committed by Cohen were more serious than his submission
allows and were marked by a pattern of deception that permeated his professional
life.”

Fascinating, isn't it?
Then again, Mueller's perspective, focus is a bit different since he's
apparently moving up the food chain to the kingpin. Prosecuting and/or
making plea deals as he goes.

"Robert Mintz, a former
federal prosecutor now in private practice, said the filings show that
Cohen “was trying to have it both ways” and that, instead of succeeding,
he became “a textbook example of how not to cooperate with federal prosecutors.”
Mueller submitted a seven-page memo that doesn’t take any firm position
on how long Cohen should spend in prison. In their memo, federal prosecutors
in New York lambasted Cohen, detailing his lies to the IRS and banks and
his gaming of the campaign finance system — acts that prosecutors said
were driven largely by his “own ambition and greed.” Cohen, they claimed,
relished the role of being Trump’s “fixer,” trying to use it to win a role
in the administration. When that failed, he set out to swindle companies
out of money by tricking them into thinking he could provide access and
insight. In reality, though, they said Cohen was not much more than “a
man whose outlook on life was often to cheat,” and he did not deserve to
be spared entirely because he finally decided to plead guilty. “After cheating
the IRS for years, lying to banks and to Congress, and seeking to criminally
influence the Presidential election, Cohen’s decision to plead guilty —
rather than seek a pardon for his manifold crimes — does not make him a
hero,” prosecutors wrote."

Certainly, no choir boy.

"Prosecutors repeatedly
highlighted what they suggested was minimal information provided by Cohen,
noting that while he also met with New York state investigators and tax
authorities, that cooperation “warrants little to no consideration as a
mitigating factor” because Cohen told them nothing of value beyond what
they would probably have gotten without his help. The Mueller memo says
that Cohen “repeated many of his prior false statements” when he met with
the special counsel’s office in August, and it was only in a second meeting
on Sept. 12 — after he pleaded guilty to the campaign finance charges —
that he admitted “his prior statements about the Moscow Project had been
deliberately false and misleading.”

No question, a shyster
looking out for number 1. Then again, the Trump nazi doesn't
do precisely the same? LOL. These guys are all pieces of human
excrement. All of them need to be held criminally accountable.

"The special counsel’s
office wrote that Cohen’s lies to Congress “obscured the fact that the
Moscow Project was a lucrative business opportunity that sought, and likely
required, the assistance of the Russian government,” and that, if completed,
the Trump Organization could have received “hundreds of millions of dollars
from Russian sources in licensing fees and other revenues.” They noted,
as Cohen had already admitted, that he and Trump discussed the project
“well into the campaign.” The special counsel’s office added, though, that
Cohen “has gone to significant lengths to assist the Special Counsel’s
investigation.” The office wrote that Cohen had “explained financial aspects
of the deal that would have made it highly lucrative,” and, without prompting,
he had corrected other statements he made about his contacts with Russian
officials during the campaign."

Fascinating, isn't it?
Two remarkably different assessments from two different prosecutorial teams
with remarkably different ultimate goals.

"For example, Cohen said
in a radio interview in September 2015 that Trump should meet with the
president of Russia during the United Nations General Assembly, and he
claimed for a time afterward that the comment had been “spontaneous” and
not discussed with members of the campaign. In fact, the special counsel’s
office said, Cohen later admitted that he had conferred with Trump about
contacting the Russian government for the meeting — which ultimately did
not take place. In asking for a sentence of no prison time, Cohen stressed
his extensive cooperation with Mueller as well as investigators from other
agencies. His lawyers linked his wrongdoing directly to Trump, writing
that Cohen was motivated to pay the women to keep quiet and lie to Congress
out of his “fierce loyalty” to Trump. Trump has publicly denied the affairs
and said he “stayed away” from business in Russia. “He could have fought
the government and continued to hold to the party line, positioning himself
perhaps for a pardon or clemency, but, instead — for himself, his family,
and his country — he took personal responsibility for his own wrongdoing
and contributed, and is prepared to continue to contribute, to an investigation
that he views as thoroughly legitimate and vital,” Cohen’s lawyers wrote
in court papers submitted last week."

Readers are reminded Mueller
will likely not recommend prosecution of a sitting president who may have
engaged in criminal activity, but forward his report to Congress for consideration
of impeachment.

NBC News reports:

"In court documents filed
Friday, Special Counsel Robert Mueller for the first time cites President
Donald Trump’s time in the White House as relevant in the investigation
into Russia’s interference in the 2016 election. It’s the same time frame
in which Trump’s former personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, says he prepared
and circulated a statement to congressional investigators that was false.
The revelations were two of four areas in which the special counsel says
Cohen provided “useful” assistance in the Russia investigation over the
course of seven meetings with investigators. The Mueller filing and a separate
one also filed Friday by federal prosecutors in New York essentially place
the president as a key figure in multiple federal investigations."

Noose figuratively tightening
as Trump insanely deludes himself:

"Yet Trump wrote on Twitter
about an hour after the filings became public: “Totally clears the President.
Thank you!” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement
that the “filings in Mr. Cohen’s case tell us nothing of value that wasn’t
already known.” “Mr. Cohen has repeatedly lied and as the prosecution has
pointed out to the court, Mr. Cohen is no hero,” Sanders said."

Think Trump is?

"New York prosecutors
state in their 40-page document that Cohen admits that during the campaign
he violated campaign finance laws by arranging payments to silence women
alleging affairs with Trump “in coordination with and at the direction
of” the president. Separately, Cohen’s contacts with people connected to
the White House while Trump was in office, as well as the “circumstances
of preparing and circulating his response to the congressional inquiries”
were two of the four key topics on which Mueller says he cooperated with
the Russia investigation. Part of Mueller’s probe into Russia’s election
interference, and whether any Trump associates colluded with Moscow on
the effort, includes whether the president has tried to obstruct the investigation.
In Mueller’s court filing to recommend sentencing for Cohen, the special
counsel writes that the president’s personal lawyer provided valuable information
“concerning his contacts with persons connected to the White House during
the 2017–2018 time period.”

"NBC News has reported
that Mueller has examined aspects of Trump’s transition, as well as his
time in the White House. Mueller also writes in Friday’s filing that in
November 2015, Cohen, acting as Trump’s personal lawyer and a senior executive
in his company, was in communication with a well-connected Russian national
seeking political and business “synergy” with the Trump campaign. A previous
court filing revealed that Trump and members of his family knew more about
Cohen’s efforts to construct a Trump Tower in Moscow than was previously
known, and that those discussions went on longer into 2016 than he had
told Congress they had. Trump insisted throughout the campaign he had no
business connections with Russia."

"The court papers reveal
for what appears to be the first time that Cohen was in contact with the
Trump White House last year and this year, although it does not disclose
what was discussed during that contact. The memo also contains additional
revelations related to Russia – Cohen, for instance, admitted to lying
to prosecutors when he told them that, while giving a radio interview in
2015, he “spontaneously” floated the idea of Trump meeting Russian President
Vladimir Putin at the United Nations General Assembly. Cohen had in fact
“conferred” with Trump about reaching out to the Russian government officials
to gauge their interest in arranging such a meeting with Putin in New York,
according to the court papers. Mueller’s office also said Cohen gave them
information about attempts by Russian nationals to communicate with the
Trump campaign. One of them claimed to be a “trusted person” in the Russian
federation who could offer the campaign “political synergy” and “synergy
on a government level, the memo says. Cohen told the investigators the
Russian repeatedly proposed a meeting between Trump and Putin that he said
could produce a “phenomenal" impact in matters of politics and business,
according to the memo. The prosecutors noted that Cohen didn't follow up
on the invitation."

Consider the following:

"After the filing from
Mueller, Trump tweeted that it "totally clears the President. Thank you!"
But in fact there was nothing in either court filing that exonerated Trump,
and one portion strongly suggested that Trump was personally involved in
a campaign finance violation. The Manhattan prosecutors said Cohen had
paid off two women to suppress their stories about affairs with Trump —
a campaign expense that was improperly not reported — and said he did so
"in coordination with and at the direction of" Trump."

CBS News reports:

"The special counsel filed
a memo Friday revealing more about what former Trump campaign chairman
Paul Manafort lied about when he was supposed to be cooperating with federal
investigators. His cooperation with the government was part of a plea agreement
to avoid his second trial, focused in part on allegations related to money
laundering and his foreign lobbying. The special counsel said that his
lies to federal investigators were not simply "memory lapses" on the part
of Manafort. According to the special counsel's memo, Manafort lied about
several things in breach of his plea deal, including his contact with Konstantin
Kilimnik, who ran Manafort's office in Kiev. Kilimnik, who has ties to
Russian intelligence, was indicted in June. Much of the information about
Kilimnik was redacted in the filing, although Manafort admitted he conspired
with Kilimnik to obstruct justice. The special counsel also alleged that
Manafort lied about a payment made toward a debt incurred by him to a firm
that was working for him in 2017. According to the filing, he also provided
false information to the Justice Department about another investigation.
And while Manafort said he had no "direct or indirect communications" with
anyone in the Trump administration and never "asked anyone to try to communicate
a message to anyone in the Administration," the special counsel says he
was lying about this, too. He asked someone to speak with an administration
official on his behalf by text on May 26, 2018 and had been in communication
with a senior administration official through February 2018."

A congenital liar just
like his fuhrer in the Oval Office. LOL. Two peas in
a pod. Can we stand it? LOL.

NBC News reports:

"An emotional Michael
Cohen, President Donald Trump's former lawyer and fixer, was sentenced
Wednesday to 3 years after pleading guilty to nine federal charges stemming
from his failure to report millions of dollars in income and making secret
payments to women who claimed they had affairs with Trump. One of the charges
Cohen pleaded guilty to included a separate charge, stemming from Robert
Mueller's probe into Trump's potential collusion with Russia, that he lied
to Congress about his dealings with a proposed Trump Tower in Moscow. Cohen,
52, appeared in the Manhattan federal courtroom Wednesday morning with
his wife and children. When standing before Judge William Pauley, Cohen
said blind loyalty to Trump led him to "choose darkness over light." He
said he will work to prove history wrong and that he is not the villain
in this investigation. He appeared to tear up as he apologized to his family
and to the people of the United States. “I am truly sorry and I promise
I will be better," he said."

CBS News reports:

"The media company that
owns the National Enquirer admitted to "working in concert" with the Trump
campaign to pay off a woman who said she had an affair with Mr. Trump in
order to squash her story, prosecutors in New York said Wednesday. The
U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York said it had
agreed not to prosecute American Media, Inc. (AMI), the Enquirer's parent
company, for its involvement in the scheme in exchange for the company's
cooperation in the investigation into the payment to Karen McDougal, a
former Playboy model. AMI "admitted that its principal purpose in making
the payment was to suppress the woman's story so as to prevent it from
influencing the election," the office said. The announcement came hours
after former Trump attorney Michael Cohen was sentenced in Manhattan to
three years in federal prison for violating campaign finance laws for his
role in paying off McDougal and Stormy Daniels.

"AMI further admitted
that its principal purpose in making the payment was to suppress the woman's
story so as to prevent it from influencing the election," the news release
said. In exchange for avoiding prosecution, AMI accepted responsibility,
agreed to assist in the investigation, and improve its internal compliance
related to campaign finance laws, the U.S. Attorney's Office said."

Noose figuratively tightens.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-14-18

Trump nazi throws a tantrum
in the Oval Office. The Washington Post reports:

"President Trump, House
Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer
clashed Tuesday over funding for the border wall, an explosive Oval Office
encounter that ended with Trump declaring he’d be proud to shut down the
government to get what he wants. The stunning public spat, during which
Schumer accused the president of throwing a “temper tantrum,” ended with
no resolution and appeared to increase the chances of a partial government
shutdown at the end of next week, just before Christmas. The three leaders
pointed fingers, raised their voices and interrupted each other repeatedly
as they fought over policy and politics, laying bare their differences
for all to see."

About time someone stood
up to the lunatic.

"Schumer lectured Trump
that “Elections have consequences, Mr. President.” Trump claimed that,
because she is working to nail down the votes to become speaker, “Nancy’s
in a situation where it’s not easy for her to talk right now.” Pelosi retorted:
“Please don’t characterize the strength that I bring to this meeting as
the leader of the House Democrats who just won a big victory.”

"Pelosi repeatedly asked
the president to take the encounter off-camera but it continued for nearly
20 rancorous minutes before Trump ejected the media. “We came in here in
good faith, and we are entering into this kind of a discussion in the public
view,” Pelosi said during the meeting’s public portion. Pelosi and Schumer
both implored Trump not to shut down the government. Trump initially said
he did not want a shutdown either but in the end announced he did. “I am
proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck,” Trump declared.
“Because the people of this country don’t want criminals and people that
have lots of problems and drugs pouring into this country. So I will take
the mantel, I will be the one to shut it down. I won’t blame you for it.”

Trump is an idiot.
Hasn't a clue. Doesn't know what he's talking about.

"The leaders also argued
about the meaning of the midterm election results. As Pelosi and Schumer
pointed to Democrats’ resounding win in the House, Trump said: “Excuse
me did we win the Senate? We won the Senate.” “When the president brags
that he won North Dakota and Indiana he’s in real trouble,” Schumer remarked
in response. Vice President Pence sat near Trump in an arm chair the entire
time without saying anything.

"The private part of the
meeting apparently was not much more productive than what the public saw.
After Pelosi and Schumer exited the White House, Schumer told reporters:
“If he sticks to his position for a $5 billion wall he will get no wall,
and he will get a shutdown. The bottom line is very, very simple.”

"Trump began the day Tuesday
by posting a series of tweets threatening that if Democrats do not provide
enough votes to build the wall, “the Military will build the remaining
sections.” He did not elaborate on how that would be funded. Trump had
long promised Mexico would pay for the wall, but it is now on U.S. taxpayers
to foot the bill."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-14-18

More of the same incompetence,
aggressive stupidity of the narcissist in the Oval Office. NPR reports:

"Kathy Kraninger, a White
House official, has been confirmed as the Consumer Financial Protection
Bureau's new director over objections by critics who highlighted her lack
of experience in consumer protection. The Senate voted 50-49 Thursday
to back Kraninger as head of the consumer protection watchdog agency. She
has worked for the Office of Management and Budget since March 2017."

She is not qualified.

"She will succeed her
OMB boss Mick Mulvaney, who has been the CFPB's acting director, for a
five-year term. An associate director for general government at the OMB,
Kraninger, 43, held prior jobs at the departments of Homeland Security
and Transportation. Kraninger's appointment is another slight by the Trump
administration against the CFPB, an agency Mulvaney has worked to weaken
from within. "The White House has said she is the "right leader to reform
and refocus" the agency."

That is, do nothing to
protect consumers, only the financial community. Forget? The
Republican national socialist way.

"The nomination spurred
enthusiasm from Republicans and fierce rebuttal from Democrats during a
heated Senate Banking Committee hearing in July. Kraninger has said that
"under my stewardship, the bureau will take aggressive action against bad
actors who break the rules by engaging in fraud and other illegal activity."

Highly unlikely.

"Republicans argued that
her management experience at the OMB qualified her for the job. "I have
the utmost confidence that she is well prepared to lead the bureau in enforcing
federal consumer financial laws and protecting consumers in the financial
marketplace," Committee Chairman Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, said at Kraninger's
hearing. But Democrats disagreed, saying Kraninger has no financial industry
regulation experience and was unresponsive to their hearing questions."

Precisely what Republicans
want for their cronies in the financial community, -- which in turn generously
lines their pockets.

"They contended she was
an architect of the federal government's "botched" response to Hurricane
Maria in Puerto Rico. "Instead of turning to help them you pinched pennies,"
said Sen. Bob Menendez, D-N.J. "That does not give me the faith that when
you have to stand up for seniors, service members, students, homeowners
against some of the biggest financial institutions in this country that
you'll do that," Menendez added during the hearing. Democrats also said
Kraninger played a key role in overseeing the Trump administration's policy
of separating immigrant children from their families at the border."

Certainly, quite a plus
in the view of the Trump nazi and his henchmen in the GOP.

"These are innocent children
who may be scarred forever by this policy," said Sen. Elizabeth Warren,
D-Mass., who helped create the CFPB. "It is fundamentally immoral and you,
you were part of it Ms. Kraninger. It is a moral stain that will follow
you for the rest of your life. And if the Senate votes to give a big promotion
to you after this, it is a stain on the senators who do so."

Forget? The American
Way.

"At her hearing, Kraninger
declined to answer questions about the specifics of her roles in those
policies. "I don't think it's appropriate for me to get into the details
of my advice" to agencies, she said."

Jesus Christ. This
woman will be no more than a shill for her corporate masters.

"She mentioned the value
of the free market in her opening statement, noting she spent time in the
then-Soviet Union as a member of the Peace Corps. There, she said, she
saw "firsthand the devastating impact of communism, the economic consequences
of central planning, and the absence of free markets and the rule of law."

There is no such thing
as a 'free' market. The market is owned, manipulated, controlled
by those with the wealth to do so. Moreover, the bottom and middle
class receive far different treatment by the law and in the courts than
those on the top of the food chain. The end result of both extremes,
that is, communism vs. unregulated or poorly regulated laissez-fair capitalism
remains one and the same, -- abject subjugation of the masses to the advantage
of the very top of the food chain. No more complicated than that.
Both system extremes are designed to solely benefit the chosen few.

"Kraninger also pointed
to her public service experiences, starting with an internship at the office
of then-congressman Sherrod Brown. But Brown, a Democrat who is now an
Ohio senator, said at the hearing: "I can't think of a professional reason
that she's qualified for this job." The committee approved her nomination
on a slim, party-line vote."

Traitors. Corporate
interests trump those of the people.

"Dozens of consumer and
civil rights organizations, including the AFL-CIO, the NAACP and Public
Citizen, signed a letter to the banking committee this summer, decrying
her nomination. As director, she would "continue in the line of the dangerous
leadership" and "prioritize the interests of industry over consumers and
the rule of law," they wrote. In a statement, Karl Frisch, executive director
of the consumer advocacy group Allied Progress, said: "Rather than reward
her with a promotion she does not deserve and is not qualified for, Senators
should have refused her nomination. The mission of the CFPB is far too
important to be placed in the hands of someone who lacks candor and experience
at such a fundamental level."

Precisely why Republican
national socialists, fascists, nazis voted for her. They have no
honor, no standards, no principles, remain hopelessly amoral, self-serving.

"The CFPB is a watchdog
agency, created by the government in 2011 to safeguard American consumers
against some of the financial losses they suffered in the mortgage crisis
and Great Recession."

"Mulvaney's appointment
was viewed as a slam of the agency by the Trump administration — the Republican
once sponsored a failed bill to shut down the CFPB altogether. The former
congressman, who splits his time as director of the OMB, has worked to
make the watchdog agency less aggressive. In his time as interim director,
Mulvaney dismantled the agency's consumer advisory council, delayed a new
payday lending regulation and saw key CFPB leaders resign, citing his leadership.
Mulvaney also ordered the agency to drop a pending lawsuit toward Golden
Valley Lending, which alleged the lenders engaged in unfair, deceptive
and abusive business practices and charged annualized interest rates of
almost 950 percent."

Forget? The Republican
Way. Line the pockets of those who line theirs. -- Not that
both parties don't do the same, just that GOP national socialists, fascists
do it far more blatantly.

"Democrats have pledged
to examine the aftereffects of Mulvaney's tenure once they take control
of the House in the new year. "I call on Director Kraninger to put
consumers first by rolling back the anti-consumer actions taken by her
predecessor and allowing the Consumer Bureau to resume its work of protecting
hardworking Americans from unfair, deceptive or abusive practices," Rep.
Maxine Waters, D-Calif., said in a statement after the confirmation vote."

Snowball's chance.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-14-18

Yet, another exceptionally
poor pick by the Trump nazi. NPR reports:

"President Trump said
Friday that he intends to nominate William Barr, a prominent Republican
lawyer and former attorney general, to return and lead the Justice Department.
Barr, who served as George H.W. Bush's attorney general from 1991 to 1993,
holds sweeping views of executive power and hard-line positions on criminal
justice issues."

Another national socialist,
fascist, law and order nazi just like the Sessions nazi.

"He was my first choice
from day 1," Trump told reporters outside the White House. "I think he
will serve with great distinction."

A national socialist,
fascist, nazi just like you, Mr. 'President.'

"Barr's nomination also
has been met with concern by civil rights and criminal justice reform advocates,
who point to his hard-line views dating back to the early 1990s. "William
Barr's record suggests he will follow Jeff Sessions' legacy of hostility
to civil rights and civil liberties," said Faiz Shakir, the American Civil
Liberties Union national political director. "Barr must commit to defending
the rule of law and civil rights, not serving as a political arm of Trump's
anti-constitutional agenda."

How is that possible
for a racist nazi in the mold of Jeff Sessions? How?

"In 1992, for example,
Barr penned a note attached to a Justice Department document entitled:
"The Case for More Incarceration." In his note, Barr writes "there is not
a better way to reduce crime than to identify, target, and incapacitate
those hardened criminals who commit staggering numbers of violent crimes
whenever they are on the streets."

That approach is precisely
why we have millions incarcerated for chicken shit crimes. Exactly,
why prisons are not correctional institutions, just warehouses.
Time to wake up. Embrace reality instead of Right Wing nazism.

"In the 1990s, William
Barr, President Trump's pick for attorney general, oversaw a program that
sent some 12,000 Haitian asylum seekers to Guantanamo Bay, effectively
creating what one detractor called "the world's first HIV detention camp."
After operating for about 18 months, the detention system was forcibly
ended by a judge in 1993, but Barr defended the practice as recently as
2001."

Delusionally believe this
sick son of a bitch fit for office?

"At the time, Barr was
serving as attorney general for President George H.W. Bush, and a military
coup in Haiti had led to mass executions that targeted thousands of supporters
of the overthrown leader. The bloodshed sent thousands of Haitians fleeing
to Florida to seek asylum. But soon the United States Coast Guard began
intercepting the boats at sea and conducting preliminary screenings of
the refugees on board. Those who didn't make it past the initial interview
were immediately sent back to Haiti. When that practice was challenged
in court, the Coast Guard quickly ran out of room to house the would-be
migrants aboard ships. Federal immigration officials, wanting to avoid
an influx of thousands of Haitian refugees in the U.S., instituted a policy
of shuttling them to the U.S. naval station at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, rather
than the States."

Delusionally believe Republicans
don't have a problem with national socialism, fascism, nazism? Not
to neglect to mention racism, bigotry? Equally ironic? Most
of these fascist bastards outrageously claim to be Christians. ...
As did Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini.

"A return to Haiti was
a near certain death sentence for many of those who fled, said Ira Kurzban,
an attorney and refugees' advocate who in 1991 fought against the program.
The Haitian military would regularly patrol neighborhoods on the island,
"literally pulling people out their homes to execute them in the streets,"
Kurzban said in a telephone interview with CBS News on Friday."

Clearly, Republicans had
no problems returning them to such a fate rather than allow them to apply
for asylum here. Forget? The Nazi Way.

"Those who made it to
Guantanamo would go through a "credible fear" interview to determine whether
they had a strong asylum case. Those who passed were eligible to enter
the United States and begin asylum proceedings. But Haiti was also going
through an AIDS crisis and some refugees were HIV-positive. Those who tested
HIV-positive were forced to undergo a second interview at Guantanamo Bay
and questioned again, facing a higher standard for proving their eligibility
for asylum, according to a law paper published by Michael Ratner, the attorney
who successfully fought against the HIV screening. Ratner died in 2016.
The paper, titled "How We Closed the Guantanamo HIV Camp: The Intersection
of Politics and Litigation," was released by the Harvard Human Rights Journal
in 1998."

Nazi justice. Gets
worse. Get this:

"In Ratner's brief, he
wrote that a "high-level attorney in the Bush administration told us that
Attorney General Barr believed that everyone who was HIV-positive should
be returned to Haiti." The process effectively segmented off the HIV-positive
asylum seekers and held them indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay, a military
base where they weren't protected under any sovereign laws, including those
of the United States. The system created "the world's first and only detention
camp for refugees with HIV," according to Ratner's paper."

Nothing quite like American
pride, is there? Forget? Land of the free. Home of the
brave.

"Aaron C. Morris, the
executive director of Immigration Equality, an immigration rights organization
focused on LQBTQ issues, called the program an effective "prison camp"
and "a stain on United States history."

Couldn't be, could it?

"William Barr's embrace
of those inhumane camps as well as his leading role in fighting to ban
immigrants living with HIV from entering the country is appalling," Morris
wrote in an email to CBS News."

Worse? Gutless.

"The system occasionally
put Barr at odds with then-Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Colin
Powell, Vice President Dick Cheney and National Security Adviser Brent
Scowcroft, all of whom didn't understand why a military base was being
used for immigration purposes, according to an interview Barr gave in 2001
with the Miller Center, a presidential research center at the University
of Virginia. The three often asked how much longer "the HIV people" would
stay, Barr said, to which he responded: "Until it's over." "But we're not
bringing these people into the United States." Barr recounted saying at
the time. "This is a very convenient base outside the United States, and
it's serving a good function."

Think so?

"While Barr said "politics
was not the reason we were doing this by any means, because we were enforcing
immigration laws," he did acknowledge the political undercurrents. "You
want 80,000 Haitians to descend on Florida several months before the election?
Come on, give me a break," Barr said in the 2001 Miller Center interview,
which was intended to be an oral history of the George H.W. Bush administration."

Clearly, a goddamned racist
as well as a national socialist, fascist, nazi. Doesn't get any 'better'
than that, does it? LOL.

"Barr did not respond
to an email from CBS News seeking comment."

What the f--k could he
possibly say? Democrats need to pointedly question him on this during
confirmation hearings. Let's see how the bastard tap dances out of
this one.

"Unlike detention centers
in the U.S., access to immigration attorneys at Guantanamo Bay was limited
and "refugees could not apply for the protection of political asylum until
they set foot in the United States," according to Ratner's brief."

Convenient, no?

"In the end, Ratner credits
a combination of legal challenges and public pressure from high-profile
activists with finally ending the policy. In 1993, District Court Judge
Sterling Johnson Jr. ruled in the migrants' favor, stating that they were
being held in "the kind of indefinite detention usually reserved for spies
and murderers," even though they "are neither criminals nor national security
risks ... merely the unfortunate victims of a fatal disease," the Washington
Post reported. The Clinton administration, which by then had taken office,
chose not to appeal further. At that point, Ratner says there were fewer
than 150 Haitians still detained at Guantanamo and they were allowed to
enter the U.S. "It's a shameful chapter of history because the United States
kept these people in prison, denying them their legal rights to receive
legal processing because [Guantanamo] is not a U.S. territory," said Muzaffar
Chishti, the director of the New York Migration Policy Institute office,
in a telephone interview with CBS News."

Delusionally believe this
son of a bitch fit to be Attorney General of the United States?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-14-18

Another extremely poor
choice by the Trump nazi. NPR reports:

"From Fox & Friends
to the State Department, and now likely to the United Nations. President
Trump says he will nominate Heather Nauert, the State Department spokeswoman
and a former Fox News host, to become the next ambassador to the U.N. Speaking
to reporters Friday as he left the White House, Trump said Nauert is "very
smart" and "very talented." If confirmed by the Senate, Nauert would replace
Nikki Haley, who is leaving the post at the end of the year."

Has virtually no experience
in diplomacy.

NBC News reports:

"President Trump has often
boasted of the quality level of his political and policy advisers, once
claiming that his administration featured "by far the highest IQ of any
Cabinet ever assembled." But the first president to lack government or
military experience has seemingly dismissed the need for traditional categories
of relevant expertise in his picks for key posts as well, often tapping
loyalists who lack the qualifications of their predecessors. His expected
nomination of former Fox anchor and State Department spokesperson Heather
Nauert to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Nations despite a lack
of traditional diplomatic experience joins a long list of similar selections."

Does she ever. LOL.
Consider the following list compiled by NBC:

"—Ronny Jackson, VA Secretary
nominee: Despite his medical and military credentials, Jackson lacked the
relevant management and policy experience to run the government’s second-largest
agency. Jackson ultimately withdrew his name from consideration amid allegations
of workplace misconduct.

—Ben Carson, Housing and
Urban Development Secretary: Carson, a pioneering neurosurgeon, had no
expertise in housing or welfare policy when Trump put him in charge of
meeting the housing needs of millions of low-income Americans.

—Rick Perry, Energy Secretary:
Perry famously once called for the elimination of the department he now
leads. The New York Times reported that Perry learned only after being
offered the job that "he would become the steward of a vast national security
complex he knew almost nothing about, caring for the most fearsome weapons
on the planet, the United States’ nuclear arsenal."

—Betsy DeVos, Education
Secretary: The billionaire charter school activist had no teaching or administrative
experience when nominated. Vice President Mike Pence delivered the tie-breaking
vote in her controversial Senate confirmation.

—Matthew Petersen, D.C.
U.S. District Court Judge nominee: Petersen struggled to answer basic legal
questions at his December 2017 confirmation hearing. His exchange with
Republican Sen. John Kennedy went viral, and he ultimately withdrew his
nomination.

—Brett Talley, Alabama
U.S. District Court Judge nominee: Trump nominated the 36-year-old for
a lifetime federal district judgeship despite Talley never having tried
a case. Talley received a unanimous "not qualified" rating from the American
Bar Association, largely due to his lack of courtroom experience. A record
number of Trump nominees have received such a rating from the ABA.

—Sam Clovis, USDA chief
scientist nominee: Trump nominated his former Iowa campaign manager for
the position overseeing science at the Department of Agriculture, despite
the fact that Clovis isn't a scientist. Clovis withdrew only after being
linked to the ongoing Russia probe.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-14-18

Trump sends Russians a
message. CBS News reports:

"The U.S. carried out
an "extraordinary" flight over Ukraine Thursday days after Russia seized
three Ukrainian naval ships off Crimea. Citing the Open Skies Treaty, the
Pentagon said the U.S. and allies conducted the flight "to reaffirm U.S.
commitment to Ukraine and other partner nations." "Russia's unprovoked
attack on Ukrainian naval vessels in the Black Sea near the Kerch Strait
is a dangerous escalation in a pattern of increasingly provocative and
threatening activity," the Pentagon said in a statement. "The United States
seeks a better relationship with Russia, but this cannot happen while its
unlawful and destabilizing actions continue in Ukraine and elsewhere."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"The Kremlin has rejected
U.S. criticism of Russian strategic bombers' deployment to Venezuela. U.S.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo responded to Monday's arrival of a pair
of Tu-160 nuclear-capable bombers in Venezuela by tweeting that "the Russian
and Venezuelan people should see this for what it is: two corrupt governments
squandering public funds, and squelching liberty and freedom while their
people suffer."

... Certainly, true.
Then again, aren't the Trump nazi and his henchmen doing precisely the
same? Both here at home as well as overseas. -- As the de facto
fascist police-state we've lived in since 9/11 quickly transitions to the
Trump nazi's Fourth Reich. ... Right, Donny boy?

"Russian President Vladimir
Putin's spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, dismissed Pompeo's comment as "undiplomatic"
and "inappropriate." He told reporters Tuesday that such criticism sounds
odd from a country "half of whose military budget would be enough to feed
the whole of Africa."

Sadly, great truth to
that as well. Forget? Lines the pockets of corporate war profiteers
who in turn line the pockets of their bought and paid for shills in Congress.
Both major political parties. Truly, a non-partisan issue. Cozy,
isn't it?

"Russian-U.S. ties have
sunk to post-Cold War lows over Ukraine, the war in Syria and allegations
of Russian meddling in the 2016 U.S. election. Likewise, U.S.-Venezuela
relations, which have long been strained, have been pushed to new lows
under the leaderships of President Donald Trump and Venezuela's hard-line
President Nicolas Maduro."

Idiots. Two
peas in a pod. LOL.

"The bombers' arrival
in Venezuela came on the heels of a meeting between Maduro and Putin in
Russia. Russia, which has come to the aid of Maduro's cash-strapped government
with cash infusions, has flown strategic bombers to Venezuela previously
in a show of force during diplomatic flare-ups with the U.S.Maduro welcomes
the visiting planes and often touts his partnership with Russia as evidence
of how Venezuela could defend itself with help from friends in the face
of any hypothetical U.S. military aggression. As Venezuela's ongoing political
crisis spiraled into mass violence on the streets in the summer of 2017,
President Trump said he was considering "many options" as a response. "I
am not going to rule out a military option," Mr. Trump said at the time.
"We have many options."

You're an idiot,
Mr. 'President.' Sadly, you determinedly, cluelessly, psychotically
present an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties. Certainly endanger a democratic republic under
the United States Constitution. Democrats, however, need to be very
careful after taking over the House in January. Don't impeach Trump.
Let him finish his term of office. Forget? Trump is
an idiot and insane. Pence is not.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"Two years after North
Carolina first used a special legislative session to pass a series of bills
limiting the powers of its incoming Democratic governor, GOP legislators
in Wisconsin and Michigan followed suit, pushing through sweeping changes
to the governor's power, the judiciary, and voter access after key midterm
losses. Now, independent state government experts and political scientists
warn that such power grabs foretell what could become a worrisome partisan
trend: election nullification."

Raw nazism in what is
supposed to be a democratic republic under the United States Constitution.

"I do think that once
you do see a number of states move in this direction, if they have any
level of success, we’re going to see more of them try to do it. And it’s
very disturbing to me," Norman Ornstein, resident scholar at the conservative
think tank American Enterprise Institute, told NBC News. "Once you start
down the path of diluting, obviating, nullifying the results of an election,
it’s very hard to pull back from that."

Think Democrats won't
wind up returning the favor?

"Both national and statewide
experts said they had never seen such efforts like the ones in Wisconsin
and Michigan before — and that the GOP actions indicate a new level of
toxicity has arrived in state government."

What it remains is no
less than raw nazism perpetrated by national socialists, fascists, nazis
in the not-so-grand GOP.

"Until recently, no party
has tried to hamstring their opponents' future power to the way the Republicans
are doing it now," John Chamberlin, professor emeritus of political science
and public policy at the University of Michigan, told NBC News, adding,
"They are a bad sign that state politics is being infected by the toxic
national political environment."

"The Republican lame-duck
efforts follow the election of Democrats Tony Evers and Josh Kaul as governor
and attorney general in Wisconsin, and Democrats Gretchen Whitmer, Dana
Nessel, and Jocelyn Benson as governor, attorney general, and secretary
of state, respectively, in Michigan. Republicans in those two states, like
North Carolina entering the 2016 elections, currently hold what is known
as a “trifecta” — control of the governor's mansion as well as both branches
of the state legislature. Although the GOP in both states will soon lose
the governor's office, the party remains in control of the statehouses,
which has allowed it to move forward with the disputed legislation during
the lame-duck session before the Democrats are sworn in next year. In Michigan,
Republicans moved to usurp the secretary of state's power to oversee campaign
finance issues and instead pass that authority on to an independent commission,
while Republicans in Wisconsin have passed bills such as one that would
require legislative approval before the governor could make changes to
programs like welfare. In both states, GOP legislators seek to curb the
ability of the newly elected governors and attorneys general to determine
the state's position in court cases."

Republican national socialists,
fascists, nazis remain a direct threat to life, liberty, all civil and
constitutional rights and liberties. What we are seeing now is a
transition from the de facto fascist police-state we have lived in since
9/11 to the Trump nazis's Fourth Reich.

"Furious Democrats have
vowed to fight back, while protesters have descended on both state capitols
to condemn the efforts. "They represent a new level of political chicanery,
mostly legal but deeply disrespectful of political norms and traditions,"
Chamberlin said."

Hear the rumble?
An unwanted dreaded second American revolution catastrophically looming.

"Conservative lawmakers
in each state have insisted the efforts are not part of a power grab, even
as some have expressed disdain for the liberal leanings of the incoming
administrations. As the conservative Commentary Magazine pointed out, the
efforts are not entirely unprecedented in U.S. history. But it is clear
to experts that the playbook has begun to shift. Dennis Dresang, professor
emeritus of public affairs and political science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison,
said the moves defy his state's long history of deferring to incoming officials
— even those in the opposite party — after elections."

For damned good reason.
Respected the will of the electorate. Clearly, no longer.

"In the 1970s and ‘80s,
for example, vacancies have explicitly been left open so the newly elected
governor [of a different party] could fill them,” Dresang said. “When Scott
Walker was elected governor in 2010, his predecessor, [Democrat] Jim Doyle,
did not proceed with a grant of $810 million from the federal government
for high speed rail because during the campaign Walker said he opposed
the project." What’s changed since the situation Dresang recalled in 2010
is the introduction of "intense polarization" and "an erosion of certain
norms," according to Rick Hasen, chancellor's professor of law and political
science at the University of California, Irvine, which could have something
to do with President Donald Trump. "It’s hard to know how much Trump is
the cause or the effect, but certainly there’s been a lot of norm erosion
in terms of how we function in our democracy," Hasen said in an interview."

You think?

"And while Republicans
are leading the way, Democrats may well follow. "I think that the attitude
has become a win at any cost attitude on the part of some Republicans and
they are seeking to squeeze every last ounce of power out of what they
can do and I expect that Democrats, when given the chance, are going to
be more apt to do something like this if faced with a similar situation,"
Hasen added. Ornstein, who for years has argued that the modern Republican
party is broken, agreed: “It’s hard if one party is doing it for the other
party not to say that they’re going to do it, as well.”

Hear the rumble?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-14-18

A good day for Planned
Parenthood. NBC News reports:

"The U.S. Supreme Court
on Monday left lower court victories intact for Planned Parenthood in a
legal battle with states over access by Medicaid patients to the group's
services. The dispute did not involve abortion, but the action by the justices
keeps a hot-button political issue off the docket. Three of the court's
conservatives said the court should have taken the case. After an anti-abortion
group released videos in 2015 that purported to show officials from Planned
Parenthood talking about selling fetal tissue, several states immediately
terminated Medicaid provider agreements with the group's affiliates. The
videos were largely discredited, but the states involved said they found
the allegations troubling. Medicaid patients in Kansas and Louisiana, two
of the states that took action against Planned Parenthood, claimed the
states violated Medicaid's requirement that patients must be free to seek
their health care from any qualified and willing provider. They sued, and
lower federal courts found in their favor, entering injunctions that ordered
those states to lift their bans. In declining to take up the states' appeals,
the Supreme Court's action on Monday leaves those lower court victories
for the Medicaid patients in place."

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-14-18

The following is courtesy
of The Washington Post. Carefully consider it. A truly
bipartisan letter to the current Senate signed by 44 former United States
Senators:

"We are former senators.
The Senate has long stood in defense of democracy — and must again.

Sunset at the U.S. Capitol
on March 5. (Alex Brandon/AP)By 44 Former U.S. SenatorsDecember 10 at 8:30 PM

Dear Senate colleagues,

As former members of the
U.S. Senate, Democrats and Republicans, it is our shared view that we are
entering a dangerous period, and we feel an obligation to speak up about
serious challenges to the rule of law, the Constitution, our governing
institutions and our national security.

We are on the eve of the
conclusion of special counsel Robert S. Mueller III’s investigation and
the House’s commencement of investigations of the president and his administration.
The likely convergence of these two events will occur at a time when simmering
regional conflicts and global power confrontations continue to threaten
our security, economy and geopolitical stability.

It is a time, like other
critical junctures in our history, when our nation must engage at every
level with strategic precision and the hand of both the president and the
Senate.

We are at an inflection
point in which the foundational principles of our democracy and our national
security interests are at stake, and the rule of law and the ability of
our institutions to function freely and independently must be upheld.

During our service in
the Senate, at times we were allies and at other times opponents, but never
enemies. We all took an oath swearing allegiance to the Constitution. Whatever
united or divided us, we did not veer from our unwavering and shared commitment
to placing our country, democracy and national interest above all else.

At other critical moments
in our history, when constitutional crises have threatened our foundations,
it has been the Senate that has stood in defense of our democracy. Today
is once again such a time.

Regardless of party affiliation,
ideological leanings or geography, as former members of this great body,
we urge current and future senators to be steadfast and zealous guardians
of our democracy by ensuring that partisanship or self-interest not replace
national interest.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-14-18

Privacy at Facebook?
NPR reports:

"Facebook's leaders gave
certain big tech companies access to users' data — and the company refused
such access to competitors, including the video app Vine, which it targeted
right after it was launched by Twitter. These are two revelations about
Facebook's business practices found in more than 200 pages of the social
media giant's internal emails and documents from 2012 to 2015 that were
released by British lawmakers on Wednesday. The revelations add to the
mounting scrutiny of Facebook and its handling of user privacy. Earlier
this year, the social media giant revealed that 87 million of its users
had their data improperly shared with Cambridge Analytica, a data analytics
firm that had worked with the Trump campaign. Facebook has long said it
does not sell user data — and it reiterated that claim Wednesday, saying
the newly released documents should not be taken out of context."

Many questions still not
answered:

"As he released the records,
Member of Parliament Damian Collins said, "We don't feel we have had straight
answers from Facebook" to important questions. Chief among them, he said,
are Facebook's "linking data to revenue" and whether it used data as a
tool — both to punish competitors and to reward advertisers.Collins highlighted
an email exchange from January 2013, when Facebook's Justin Osofsky noted
that Twitter had just launched Vine, a short-video platform that allowed
users to find Facebook friends on the app. "Unless anyone raises objections,
we will shut down their friends API access today," he wrote, adding, "We've
prepared reactive PR." "Yup, go for it," Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg replied,
according to Collins. In contrast, Collins said, a dozen of the documents
from 2014 and 2015 refer to Facebook "whitelisting" companies — giving
them full access to users' friends lists. Other documents discuss setting
an advertising threshold for companies that want to "maintain access to
the data."

No problems with that?
None at all? Report goes on and on. Still no concerns?

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

12-14-18

Think privacy is of concern
to the outrageously clueless bastards at Equifax? CBS News reports:

"A scathing new report
finds one of the largest data breaches in U.S. history was "entirely preventable."
A 14-month congressional investigation slammed credit rating agency Equifax
for lacking preventative measures in a data breach that exposed the personal
information of 148 million Americans last year. According to the House
report, hackers gained access to the Equifax network in May of last year
and attacked the company for 76 days. Thieves stole sensitive information,
including social security numbers, from nearly half of U.S. adults and
some lawmakers want Equifax to pay."

Not good enough.
Nowhere near.

"Republican Congressman
Will Hurd serves on the House Oversight Committee, which conducted the
investigation. "This breach could have been prevented if Equifax would
have followed some very basic things when it comes to good digital system
hygiene," Hurd said. The 96-page report says Equifax failed to modernize
its technology, failed to patch its systems when vulnerabilities were detected
and stored sensitive data on out-of-date and sub-par systems.

"The committee made several
recommendations to prevent future incidents like the one at Equifax, including
reducing the use of social security numbers as personal identifiers. To
protect yourself freeze your credit, have secure passwords and be sure
to shred sensitive documents.

"Equifax's full statement
to CBS News:

"We are deeply disappointed
that the Committee chose not to provide us with adequate time to review
and respond to a 100-page report consisting of highly technical and important
information. During the few hours we were given to conduct a preliminary
review we identified significant inaccuracies and disagree with many of
the factual findings. Equifax has worked in good faith for nearly 15 months
with the Committee to be transparent, cooperative and shed light on our
learnings from the incident in order to enrich the cybersecurity community.
While we believe that factual errors serve to undermine the content of
the report, we are generally supportive of many of the recommendations
the Committee laid out for the government and private industry to better
protect consumers, and have already made significant strides in many of
these areas. Since the incident, Equifax has moved forward, taking meaningful
steps to enhance our technology and security programs and will continue
to focus on consumers, customers and regaining trust with all stakeholders."

All three credit agencies
need to be abolished. Only way this problem can and will be solved.
These three agencies f--k over people seeking credit, employment, housing,
etc.. Remain an exigent threat to life, liberty, all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties. Forget? Lenders, employers, and landlords
managed to provide credit, employment, and housing decades ago before
these three bastard agencies took over the industry. Time for change.
... Hear the rumble? An unwanted dreaded second American revolution
catastrophically looming.

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.

"The Google+ social network
inadvertently gave app developers access to information on some 52.5 million
users — even data that users designated as private — because of a "bug"
in its software, Google says. The company had already announced it was
pulling the plug on the social network because of an earlier incident,
and now says the shutdown will happen four months sooner. Users' name,
birth date, email address, work history and other information were exposed
for nearly a week in November, Google says in a blog post about the privacy
flaw. Google announced in October that it was closing the consumer version
of Google+ because of a vulnerability that left nearly 500,000 accounts
exposed reportedly from 2015 to March 2018, as well as the fact that it
had failed to catch on. There was no evidence that data was misused in
either incident, Google says."

How could it possibly
know that?

"No third party compromised
our systems, and we have no evidence that the app developers that inadvertently
had this access for six days were aware of it or misused it in any way,"
Google says about the November problem."

Believe it?

"The company adds that
the November vulnerability did not expose passwords, financial information,
ID numbers and other data often used for identity theft."

Should users consider
themselves 'lucky?'

Cowardly fail to financially
and/or materially support those fighting for all civil and constitutional
rights and liberties at great personal cost and risk? Get what you
truly deserve.